Sharanagati

Year Second

1. The heart of Krishna (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 27 of May 2006, Sofia) Its a big question whether we can understand whats happening in a pure devotees heart, whats happening in Krishnas heart. Lets examine first the pure devotees heart. Whats happening there? The heart is throbbing. But this is not a simple biological function, but for a pure devotee this rhythm is the rhythm of the rasa dance. So what is happening in the heart of a pure devotee? Worship of Krishna. Irrespective of the other bodily functions. May be he is eating, or sleeping, or giving a lecture, or discussing with others, or whatever Still in the heart something else is happening. This is real schizoid situation. One life in the heart, the other life on the manifest platform. Usually in the material world they want to cure schizophrenia. But not this type. And what is happening in Krishnas heart? In Krishnas heart there are His most beloved servants. The devotees! The surrendered souls they are always with Me and I am always with them. And the most precious things as you preserve in your hearts, in the deepest recess of your hearts Krishna is the same: capturing and preserving and nourishing the devotees in His heart. Just check out that picture. How they are positioned? On the left side of Krishna there is Radha. Why on the left side? Because the heart is there. So Krishna keeps Radhika close to the heart. If she is outside on my left side. If she is not there in the left side of the body, in the heart. So this is happening in Krishnas heart. He is keeping or searching for his pure devotees, inviting them. Therefore we should treat the devotees very nice. Because if you hurt one devotee, then you give pain to Krishnas heart. And He cannot really tolerate that. If you give trouble to Him personally, Krishna can tolerate He dont take it serious. He is even ready to serve you, what to speak of tolerating some nonsense from you. But if we hurt those, who are important for Krishna its very difficult for Him to tolerate. Same way with you. People can hurt and attack you personally; but if they attack your beloved, then you bite.

2. Param Dharma (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 27 of May 2006, Sofia) Param-dharma is the highest duty. There are so many duties. But there is one topmost duty. The many duties you know, because you are meeting that every day. Paramdharma is: worship God. Offer your divine feelings to Him. This should be performed in all circumstances. Sometimes you cannot do it with your body outside because of the circumstances. But then you can remember this beautiful song Mama mana mandire: I will worship You in the temple of my heart. I will offer the ghee lamp of my eyes and I will offer the water of my tears. You can do that any time. Nothing can stop you from doing that offering. But of course, if we have the chance, we should come and do that practically also, not only mystically. We were talking many, many times about the Sunday religions. People go to a church every Sunday. And many times we are criticizing this: Only Sundays!? But sometimes you can see: how difficult it is to come to the temple, to do your bhajan every day, because you are busy, running here and there, wasting time with this and that. So dont forget about this param-dharma, the main duty. The main duty is to be connected to Krishna. And it happens ONLY by cultivation. We can feel Krishnas presence only if we cultivate this. Mama mana mandire

3. He chooses whomever He wants (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 27 of May 2006, Sofia) To illustrate how much Lord Jagannath is not bound by the rules and regulations that we think, there is one story. Please, brahmacharis, dont take the excuse. So there was a young man in Jagannath Puri, very devoted worshiper of the Lord. But he had a little affinity for ladies. All the time he was running after one or the other, sometimes even visiting prostitutes. He had this bad habit, conditioned by the body, but at the same time he was always praying and worshiping Lord Jagannath. And once he was again visiting one lady during the night. And that night happened to be during the Ratha Yatra festival. So during the day he stayed also with the lady and meanwhile the procession started. Started started but all of a sudden the cart stopped. And you know, if the cart stops, there is a big problem, because the bramins cannot identify whats happening. The pure and very strict bramins, sitting on the top of the cart, who are perfect in following every rule and regulation they cannot move the cart. They tried from the front to pull it; they tried from the back to push it - doesnt matter in either way. So then they started to pray: O Lord, please tell us whats going on!? We have to go to Your place, we cannot stop here so much! In this way we create a traffic-jam, policemen will come and what can we do? And then Lord Jagannath inspired the priest: Invite that devotee for Me. So when he was jumping out of the home of the prostitute and arriving on the spot, coming to the cart, it just started. So, dont take it as an excuse: Such a nice story, I will follow this example! This will invite the attention of my Lord! No, please, not that way. But this only shows, that HE is not restricted by those rules, that you should follow. He can choose whomever He wants. May be somebody is a very famous great devotee, but Krishna is not that much satisfied with his company like with some very simple, little, stupid, UNKNOWN devotee. So we cannot restrict Krishna. And also we cannot force Him. Therefore we should treat the devotees nice. Because you dont know: may be this person is THE MOST DEAR to Krishna. Very nice example is when Shrila Prabhupad was giving a lecture in Vrindavan. Big preachers and sannyasis and this and that were sitting in front of him. You know, it was just like a forest of dandas. And at the back some lady was caring water to clean the temple. And Prabhupad instructed his main leading preacher disciples. He said: You dont know anything about devotion. But that lady she knows something. So dont be allured by the position, by the form. Because how can we know what is there in Krishnas heart? Who is most dear to Him? May I tell you a personal story also? This is a simple story, not really concerning Krishna But when I was living in Nanda Falva in the next farm there was living one old lady. She was a very strong character, she didnt even know how old she is, she forgot. And she was very favorable for the devotees. Whenever the first flowers appeared in her garden, she was just giving these to the temple. Or when she got some donation of flour or sugar from the local municipality, also distributed it to the devotees very sweet! From time to time I visited her, because I liked her very much. And consulting with such simplehearted people I appreciate very much. She was living alone from many, many years. Because some forty years ago previously her husband died. And on the death bed the husband said: Hey listen! Dont bring some drunkard here! She kept it. She didnt start any connection, she raised the two sons and fulfilled all the duties around the house. Very strong, very strong lady. Once I was going there during the summer and she said: Hey! I dont know who is that sinful in our company! Then I said: Aunt Marishka, what do you mean? She said:

Somebody must be very sinful so much so that rain is not coming! So in her calculation, to do some sinful activities means there is no rain! If there is no rain, somebody has committed something wrong. She was very simple-hearted. Other times she asked: What is the name of your God? And I told: The name of our God is Krishna. And she said: Because the name of MY God is Inri. Because on the cross in that small plate it is written I N R I Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum . INRI. Jesus from Nazareth, King of the Jews. Its written on the cross. So her God was not Lord Jesus, but Inri! And I was just wondering, if I would be God, I would like her company very much. Because she was very simple, very open-hearted, with very deep faith. Not a complicated theological diploma, but pure heart. So God chooses whom He wants. It is said in the Upanishads: You cannot reach Him by much studies, by your renunciation, by this or that but whomever HE chooses, He will take. So therefore we have no other duty, just invite Him: Radhe Radhe Govinda!

4. Vaishnava etiquette (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj on Chaitanya Charitamrita, Antya-Lila, 4th Chapter, 28 of May 2006, Sofia) In the month Jeishtha (May-June), Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to the garden of Yameshvar, Lord Shiva, and accepted prasad there at the request of the devotees. At noon when it was time for lunch, the Lord called for Sanatan Goswami, whose happiness increased because of the call. At noon the sand on the beach was as hot as fire, but Sanatan Goswami came by that path. Overwhelmed by joy at being called by the Lord, Sanatan Goswami did not felt that his feet were burning in the hot sand. Although the soles of both of his feet were blistered from the heat, he nevertheless went to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. There he found that the Lord, having taken his lunch, was resting. Govinda gave to Sanatan Goswami the plate with the remnants of Shri Chaitanyas food. After taking the prasadam, Sanatan Goswami approached the Lord. When the Lord inquired: By which path had you come? Sanatan Goswami replied: I had come on the path along the beach. How did you come through the beach when the sand is so hot? Why didnt you come by the path in front of the Singhadwar Gate? Its very cool. The hot sand must have blistered your soles. Now you cannot walk how did you tolerate it? Sanatan Goswami replied: I did not feel much pain, nor did I know that there are blisters because of the heat. I have no rights to pass by the Singhadwar Gate, for the servants of Jagannath are always coming and going there without an interval. If I touch them, I shall be ruined. Having heard all these details, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, greatly pleased, spoke as follows: My dear Santana, although you are the deliverer of the entire universe and although even the demigods and the great saints are purified by touching you, it is a characteristic of a devotee to observe and protect the vaishnava etiquette. Maintenance of the vaishnava etiquette is the ornament of a devotee. If one transgresses the lows of etiquette, people will make fun of him, and this he is vanquished both from this world and the next. By observing the etiquette, you had satisfied my mind. Who else but you will show this example!? So, observing the etiquette is the ornament of a devotee. What kind of etiquette we are talking about? This event wouldnt be a topic for an action-movie, because seemingly nothing happened. But if you go deep, you will find that self-sacrifice, self-forgetfulness comes when you hear the invitation from the Lord. Sanatan was not a stupid guy not to take care

of the things around him, because he was a scholar. He knew very well that the sand is hot and it is painful to walk. But by the divine invitation, he thought: O, my Lord is calling for me! I have to run! not considering sun or shade, hot or cold, easy or difficult! Because that means, Im still concerned with MYSELF, I didnt forget myself. O, this is a little dangerous, better we go by different path. Total self-forgetfulness means: It doesnt matter whether I live of die, but I have to do my service. That kind of level of dedication should be there. Little blisters on the feet come on, thats nothing! A little sacrifice from our side if you can achieve eternal perfection? What kind of calculation you have? Yes, eternal happiness, I like the idea; but to make a little sacrifice a, its too difficult. Dont be stupid to be self-focused all the time. We should be ready to make sacrifice as and act of offering, just like Sanatan Goswami was doing. Because the invitation of the Lord was much more important for him then the little trouble that he had to take during the path. And what did he achieve? Mahaprabhu started to glorify him: Yes, it is good what you are doing, following the etiquette. And what is the etiquette that for the service you are ready to take the risk. This is the etiquette. By this he made Mahaprabhu very satisfied.

5. A devotee friend (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj on Chaitanya Charitamrita, Antya-Lila, 4th Chapter, 28 of May 2006, Sofia) Although Sanatan Goswami forbade Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to embrace him, the Lord did so. Thus His body was smeared with the moisture from Sanatans body, and Sanatan became greatly distressed. So sometimes as we discussed mercy comes in forceful way. Like Sanatan tried to avoid, but he could not. By force Mahaprabhu was embracing him. Thus both servant and master departed for their respective homes. The next day Jagadananda Pandit went to meet Sanatan Goswami. When Jagadananda and Sanatan sat together and begun to discuss topics about Krishna, Sanatan submitted the cause of his distress: I came here to diminish my unhappiness by seeing Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but the Lord did not allow me to execute what was in my mind. Although I forbid Him to do so, Mahaprabhu nevertheless embraces me. Therefore His body became smeared by the discharges of my itching sores. In this way I am committing offence at His lotus feet, for which I shall certainly not be delivered. At the same time I cannot see Lord Jagannath this is my great unhappiness! I came here for my benefit, but now I see Im getting just the opposite! I dont know and I cannot find how there will be benefit for me. The two ideas were: one - to see the Lord in the temple; the other - to avoid the offence to Mahaprabhu. So its happening opposite no visit to the temple and aparadh to Mahaprabhu. He tried his best, still he didnt succeed. Jagadananda said: The most suitable place for you to reside is Vrindavan. After seeing the Ratha Yatra festival, you can return there. The Lord has already ordered both of you, brothers, to situate yourself in Vrindavan. Because remember Rupa and Sanatan are two brothers. And they got some order form Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to do some certain devotional services like writing books, preaching, excavating the lost places of pilgrimage There you will achieve all happiness. Your purpose of coming here has been fulfilled, for you had seen the lotus feet of the Lord. Therefore after seeing Lord Jagannath at the Ratha Yatra cart, you can leave

Sanatan Goswami replied: You had given me very good advice. I shall certainly go there, for that is the place where the Lord has given me for my residence. Hm Sanatan Goswami enjoyed the embrace of God Himself. Still he didnt had his peace if mind. Do you have your peace of mind? More like not. So what a prospect we have, if even a great devotee being embraced by the Lord Himself is still disturbed?! Are you ready to follow this process? Doest it make any sense that you will be embraced by God and still you are not satisfied? But then comes a devotee friend. And you open up the great trouble in your heart. He gives some good advice and then you are relieved. So we might come to the conclusion, that the devotee is more potent than God himself. What you cannot resolve yourself and Lord Himself between two of you, with the help of some vaishnava, he can resolve that easily. This is the guru principle. Right? Myself and God some little disturbance is there. But if a devotee comes for help, he can easily relieve that tension. This is very nice example! Very simple things are happening devotees are coming and going and discussing something, but we can get some essential teachings from here.

6. Prabhu datta desh (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj on Chaitanya Charitamrita, Antya-Lila, 4th Chapter, 28 of May 2006, Sofia) Sanatana kahe bala kaila upadesh Taha java sei mora Prabhu datta desh (Chaitanya Charitamrita, 3.4.144) This expression is very important, so you please, remember it: Prabhu datta desh. Desh is a place; Prabhu datta is given by the Lord. The Lord-given place, we can say. You should stick to your service. Because if God, or our master, gives us some service this is Prabhu datta desh for us. And I have to tell you, that Sofia is a Prabhu datta desh for me. Because my spiritual master gave me the service to come here, visit the devotees. So Im very thankful to all of you, that you create and maintain and inhabit this desh., so that I dont have to come to an empty place, but I can come here and see your devotion growing. There were some times, when I had to show my attachment to Sofia. And not from selfish desires, but because this is Prabhu datta desh for me. This is not my place, its given to me. You feel the difference? So its not a place for enjoyment, its a place for service. And you should be attached to your service. And in classical times the devotee would NEVER leave the service, that was given to him by his master. But of course now this is not a classical age. Most of the people are not fit for such a classical attitude. Still, try to remember this expression Prabhu datta desh. And when you will realize in your lives what is your Prabhu datta desh, fix your mind on this and serve that principle. This is based on trust and respect: I have to serve what I was given. Prabhu datta desh - you might think that this is only one specific duty or service. Which is true! But basically what is the real Prabhu datta desh, what is the real service given by the spiritual master? Go back, back home, back to Godhead. So in one sense Prabhu datta desh is located you go to one place and this is it. But if we expand the understanding, than we can understand that whole our life should be like this. Everything that we do should be under the care and for the service. And if you work always under the care and guidance of Shri Krishna and Shri Guru, then this will be a Prabhu datta desh. That means, they have provided us a life, some space, some time to express our loving services and our gratitude. O my Lord, You have

given me this lifetime, so I will use it for You. So Prabhu datta desh might be one very specific duty or your complete and whole life. Start with the specific and then expand to the general. The expression goes: Prabhu datta desh given by the Lord, by the master. So its not found by the servant, but given by God. But this is a concrete case, a specific situation. Otherwise when we live our life, if we understand that I should live for the purpose of the Absolute Truth, then there is a transformation of my life: I understand that all my existence is given, provided, in order to achieve some higher goals. When you get from your master that is the concrete case, that is the specific case. When you dont enter into such a connection you master doesnt give you a specific duty, or you dont have master as most of the people dont have still if you understand that life is for living for God, then this is the transformation. And in this way you will find a different dimension for your life. But Prabhu datta desh is very specific act of giving some instruction, transferring some duties or delegating some powers.

7. Guidance in spiritual life (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 28 of May 2006, Sofia) Until we dont know, we have to ask. If you know also ask, for may be you are wrong. Sometimes we are very confident to do something that is completely wrong. The beautiful example is when one gopal was giving massage to Krishna. He is starting the massage on the left foot. He is doing it half an hour, one hour. Krishna is having a nap. And the boy thinks: Ive been massaging Krishnas left foot for an hour now, enough of that! I will go to the right foot. Because he is very convinced that this is the best way. So he gives up touching the left sole of Krishna and goes to the right. And Krishna is immediately awaken: No, go back to the left foot. So sometimes we are very determined and we know very well what to do. Still check. Actually everything in the spiritual life should be done under guidance. So in our line its not like that: you go to a shop in Loi Bazar, you buy a deity and you start the worship. No! It should come under the care and guidance of the spiritual master. And so many other things. Because in Vrindavan, and in India, any place you can find as many deities as you want. But this is not a collection of statues. So under the care and the guidance of the spiritual master we should do our services. Because we are many people, devotees are many different personalities, different ideas. So there must be somebody who focuses the whole thing. If everybody is running after his or her whims, there will be chaos. Instead of chaos we need cosmos, order. And that is provided by this attitude that we always consult and always ask the blessings for any kind of activities that we want to perform. An obedient disciple now understood that he has to ask blessings for EVERY step. So he knocks on the door of the spiritual master: May I wash my teeth? Give me your blessings. And guru fires him: Get out of here, rascal! Dont disturb my sadhana! Stupid guy, you dont know nothing! So Gurudev said not to ask him next conclusion. So you start your own activities. And when you had destroyed the ashram, next time guru comes and asks: What did you do, my son? Well, we were running down all this stuff and we make people not to come here and make them feel bad and like this, but you know I didnt want to disturb you. Stupid guy, you never ask what to do! So, dont be too much obsessed with your opinion. Once for example Shrila Prabhupad was traveling with some devotees. And you know, usually in the presence of the spiritual master devotees are more like reserved, trying to show a very good face very

humble, all the good qualities they show. So this devotee was chanting in very soft way. Prabhupad said: Loud! So he started: Krishna Krishna Prabhupad said: I told you, chant LOUD! So after some time our friend started to shout loud. Then Prabhupad said: Hey, why are you disturbing me with your noise? So even sometimes if we follow the advice of the spiritual master, we might make some mistakes. You start to chant soft he says loud; you start chanting loud ha says stop that! Why is this happening? The spiritual master is stupid? He doesnt know whether soft or loud is better? He knows very well. But YOU dont know what to do, how to do it nice. So therefore he tries his best with the different types of patients. Therefore first of all we have to understand our capacities and our limits. So we have to inquire and understand the basic principles of the community and also the philosophy. And when we know these basics, then we should apply them. But any time you want to perform something extra, then you apply for blessings. So not whimsical, but under the care, under the blessings. Until you dont trust fully, you want to understand why. But when we have full trust, we can be also sure that whatever is coming to me by God or by Master this is for my benefit. And even if I dont understand right now, later on it will be cleared for me. But this accepting everything that is coming from above is very dangerous. Because what happens if they cheat me? What happens if I am a fanatic, blind follower and I will make some mistake? But I think a real master would never be satisfied to have zombies around him. Of course we can inquire, no problem. Because if we need some more clarification, we should ask for that. But if I have full trust, then I can say yes even in such a case when I dont understand at all. But because previously it has been proved all the time that whatever is coming from above was really for my benefit by this trust I can say yes to the next step also. But in that sense that we should give our attention, that we should give all our faculties that we have, I fully agree that inquiry, and understanding, and analysis should be also offered in the services. Dont forget, when Shrila Shridhara Maharaj approached Gaudya Math and his future master and the institution, he said: O, what they are talking about is totally beyond the capacity of my understanding, of my intelligence. So I will use ALL my intelligence to approach that truth. So I think this is the proper use of intelligence not questioning the authority, but using it for approach. Please, remember this point! Its very important.

8. Time and space (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 28 of May 2006, Sofia) When God comes on earth that means He liberates whole the universe. Still if somebody wants to stay here, he can stay. But the act of liberating the whole universe was done. So principally its done; may be technically Im not part of the whole thing, but the act is done. Because the actions and the things happening in the universe are floating, manifesting on different levels. So we might see one dimension, but may be we cannot see the further dimensions. We might think that we are sitting here fifteen people, but who knows how many angels and demigods and ancient devotees and future devotees are here? We see only one dimension. When in Chaitanya Charitamrita it is mention the rice festival some rice they distributed with yogurt and that was a very happy prasad distribution festival there it is said that there were hundreds and thousands and millions of devotees around. May be they were one dozen visible for your eyes but those who were not visible, they were by the

millions. May be now Im a little heretic, but sometimes the Shastras use expressions just to show the dignity and the scope of the thing happening. And we should not take that word by word. So you see, there are different levels of the truth, of reality. Calculating time is quite a demanding task. Because actually it doesnt really exist. Still we are controlled by time this divine energy of Krishna. But time is a little complicated. Still its there, although we cannot catch it. The watch is not measuring the time, its only showing that something is passing by. And people usually say: O, time is passing, while time is laughing: No, people are passing. Desh or place is also a very interesting dimension; not only time, but place is also very interesting. Just imagine, when you are out in the nature, how you perceive space? You look around and everything is circular. But when you sit here, everything is rectangular, artificial. So natural dimensions are always round-shaped. When you perceive space, looking around, its also circular this is the natural environment. The tree grows like a pipe, round. But if you cut it and put it on the roof, it is oblong. So therefore built cities, for example, are not so much natural. They also limit and make our consciousness very oblong, very sharp. Not so soft and nice and circular and all-embracing than in nature. This is something very important to understand space, what is space around us. This artificial space is limiting giving you the doors, the barriers, the streets everything is limited here. Natural space opens up for you. Space has these two functions; one is a limitation, other is an open field. Until we are on a limited platform of consciousness, space will limit us. When you are on a liberated platform, space will become a real desh. Desh or kshetra. Kshetra is the field, field of activity. So in this way space is given for us to perform some activities. You can fill the space around you with your activities. And actually in the material consciousness people also do this they build cities and factories and this and that they fill up the space around them. Because they dont like empty spaces. This is called the horror of emptiness. Therefore young guys make these paintings on the wall graphites because they dont like empty spaces. Or artists usually they want to put all decorations, everything should be decorated. So we want to fill up the space that we have with activity, right? So, if life is given to us as a field, we should fill it up with our activities. And these activities should be spiritual activities, if you want to achieve spiritual goals. Therefore we should fill this field, this space around us, with spiritual objects, so to say, with spiritual activities. In this way space will not limit us, but it will help us to express our faith. That is desh field of your activities.

9. The Prayers (from lecture of Bhakti Kamala Tirtha Maharaj, 2 of September 2006, Sofia) There are different approaches to prayers. For a long, long time we are searching for our own goals, ambitions, desires to fulfill - not necessarily wrong, but simple ones. But then from the first philosophy lectures you understand that its not good to pray to Krishna for a selfish desire. Then you become a schizoid person you want so many things to be fulfilled, but you know that its forbidden and very bad to pray for. Isnt it? So from a strong, healthy personal character youve start practicing this type of Yoga and you become a schizoid man of the 21 century. Is that approved? This is what you want? May be not. We want to be healthy and strong. And we should realize our platform. If I am still in need of Krishnas help where shall I turn, whom to pray? Its HIM that we should pray. So dont burden yourself with trying to forbid yourself from praying. If you need something, just tell. But dont put everything into your pocket. Be ready to share what youve got with others.

We should learn also how to pray. There are different types of prayers. Like asking blessings, then asking for forgiveness. And finally when you come to the real platform of prayers is when you start to glorify God. If we are under shelter, that means that we have somebody to turn to. With whatever troubles or happiness you have, you have a consultant and partner. So Krishna is ready to serve you, but how much you are ready to serve Him? You can give your simple prayers: O my Lord, I think I need this but what is Your opinion? This is an important part. Because you can freely say: I need this, I need Your help. So dont be paranoiac: Shall I ask? Should I pray? May be not May be yes Its forbidden. No, simply give your prayers. But always let HIM decide. Right, in this way you act like Him. Because He gave the same choice to Arjuna also: Now I have told you everything its up to you. In the same way you can tell the whole story to Krishna. But finally dont forget to add: And now its up to You to decide what you want. Because actually it is always according to His choice. So better be clever in the beginning and so to say give the option to Him, but be satisfied with what youve got. But from this kanishtha stage when we pray for ourselves only, we want to qualify ourselves to reach the madhyama platform soon to pray for others. Right, because we are not neophytes, we are practicing, so we want to pray for others: My Lord, Im not praying for myself, only for others. But then again if you still preserve your kanishtha mentality, then you can commit spiritual violence. What does it mean? If for example you pray to God: O my Lord please make Damodar to be like this and that! He should act like I think! Because many times we have this feeling: O, may be this friend could be a devotee. Make him a devotee! This is the same thing! I want to push MY desire over that person with the help of God. Isnt it? It happens many times. Although I think that: O, I pray for him. No. You are praying for YOUR desire to manifest on him. You feel the difference, right? Then how to pray for others? If we pray FOR somebody, we should not push our desire over the person, but invite the mercy of the Lord or direct His attention on that person. O please, give him Your mercy! Make his path smooth. In this way your attention, your power of prayer is directed to the person and to God and then a nice transmission will come. So we should be very careful about our prayers, because this is very powerful. The purer the person is, the more effective the prayer. So dont forget to pray for yourself in the way that we discussed: This is my opinion, this is my desire, but what do You think? dont forget the second part. Dont forget to pray for others: Please, help them, make their path easier and smooth. And dont forget finally to pray in a glorification mood. In the Ishopanishad there is one exclamation for God: O my Lord, great as fire! A simple glorification: O, You are great! You are shining! You are powerful! So this is a general conception about God You are great. But we are dualists, so we pray with folded palms. Because the whole creation you can unite in your folded palms, you can offer everything that you have.

10. The emotional approach (from lecture of Bhakti Kamala Tirtha Maharaj, 2 of September 2006, Sofia)

Prayers should be directed for the benefit of others. But if you have some problem, be ready to share with Him. I think you do it. Suddenly something happens to you and you just cry: O my Lord! Right, even atheist say like this. There is an accident and they cry: O, Jesus Christ!

This is a natural thing! We are originally connected, we are coming from that source. Its natural that the soul has faith. And its natural that when you are in trouble, you just cry: O my Lord, please help me. But dont forget about Him when you are happy, right! Because when you are happy, very rarely you cry out: O my Lord, thank You! We should not be selfish. We want to push difficulties on Him: Its your business, take care!, but when you have the happiness, then I can manage that myself. This is human nature. So when we are talking about enjoying mentality, we should not be one-sided: that we want to enjoy only the happiness. You should enjoy the difficulty also. Still the saints are paving your way, the shastras are guiding you and Krishna is inviting you. So what problems we might have?! Its only a lack of faith. But it is mentioned that Krishna has unlimited grace. And He is exercising His grace on His devotees in unconceivable way. So dont think about how His mercy will come to you, simply take it. We are happy when mercy comes according to our taste. But when the mercy is coming according to His taste, then its more difficult to manage that. God is not only great, but He is loving. He is loving and He is beloved by many. Therefore ultimately we should come to the platform, where we should understand that this is not the loving God in first focus of our attention, but those, who love Him with devotion they are our masters. You see the difference? Big difference. Why? Because from them we can learn how to love Him. Of course, if you focus on Him, from Him you can learn how to love His servants. Anyway this is a good combination. Whichever direction you start, whichever part you start, you should come to this emotional approach to the Supreme Lord.

11. A perfect day (from lecture of Bhakti Kamala Tirtha Maharaj, 2 of September 2006, Sofia)

When we join the chanting, then magic starts to happen. Because many times our souls are too much embedded in matter, in illusion its almost impossible to have a glimpse out of it. Sometimes its even difficult to move. But if you want to move your soul, to shake off this tight rope of illusion, you just start chanting or singing from the deepest core of your heart. They say that its most easy to approach God, because He is very close. So dont be far away from Him! When the bhajan starts to sound, either you fly there or that earth flies here. Or we can meet half-way. When we come together in the morning or when we cannot come together, but you are on your own what can be done? You could do some little worship at your home, like offering some flowers, incense Because you start your day with GIVING to God thats perfect. Then you sing, glorifying. You can glorify in a general way like Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya- this is a general prayer. Or you can say more rasic: Jaya Radhe Shyam Jaya Radhe Shyam. As you like. Then singing makes your soul flying. You cannot stay stuck in the illusion, your soul just simply starts to fly. And then, after this breaking the barriers of your consciousness in the morning, you just sit silently, absolutely silently, you open up all the other different things that you need to open, get rid of all the difficulties that you have to get rid of you just open your HEART finally, totally.. Thats a very important step, dont miss that step And then you touch your japa Then thunderbolts are just running around your japa-beeds. Like they show in the movies something is happening and immediately all the electricity is running around the guy, you know You are so much surcharged with your spiritual power, that when you touch your

japa lightenings are coming So much power is there, so much beauty is there. That should be the quality of your morning chanting lightnings and thunderbolts. And if you have such a powerful beginning then you will have a perfect day.

12. Prayer and meditation (from lecture of Bhakti Kamala Tirtha Maharaj, 2 of September 2006, Sofia) Prayer in most of the cases is intellectual, and in the good, special cases is emotional cry to God. Meditation is when you empty yourself so much so, that you get rid of your control, so to say, in order that He can take the control over you. So as we were discussing, in your prayers usually you want to control Him. But in the real meditation, you want Him to control you. That is the difference. In meditation you are so to say passive recipient inviting, trying to get, trying to understand, to receive. In prayers you offer yourself, you offer your energies, your offer your words, you offer your thoughts. If you practice pure either this or that, we cannot say that one is higher and the other is lower. What is higher shravanam or kirtanam? Both are good. First we hear, then we chant. First you pray, then you meditate. Or the other way round. So all the different limbs are good. But you can pray so nice when you are down, when you are full of problems, isnt it? May be it is difficult to meditate at such period. You want to stop the flow of your thoughts, its just like a big storm in your head. In such moments you cannot meditate but you can pray! Its different, little different. So, if you have in your group a good person to pray, whose prayers are always heard by the Lord, approach him, O, you should pray for me a little bit! And if you have a good person who meditates nice, then you should learn meditation from him. If there is somebody chanting nice, you should learn chanting from him, est. If somebody serves Gurudev very nice, then we should approach him to learn how to serve Gurudev nice. Right, this is the method. Therefore in the Gaudia Math devotees were not struggling for the remnants of the guru, but they were waiting at the door of one disciple, who was so much devoted to the master. They were waiting for the mahaprasadam of Kunjabihari Vidyabhushan in order to achieve the same dedication to Gurudev, that he had. But of course, please dont try to snatch the prasadam from each-others plates! O, I had heard in the lecture that by taking that. and you collect from all the plates because Damodar is very good in chanting and he is very good in singing and she is very good in that So in this way I can become the best! But if you need some help, if you need some guidance, consultation then you should know where to turn. Simply go in the footsteps of these devotees, whose prayers are heard by the Lord and take little dust. Then you get it. This is our prayer.

13. Prasadam (from lecture of Bhakti Kamala Tirtha Maharaj, 2 of September 2006, Sofia) What is prasadam? For example, lets say, the devotees have a kitchen where they produce these potato chips. And when the big truck is fully loaded with the chips ready and the guy is just at the exit, he just blows the horn three times then all the chips started to be mahaprasadam? Because we are devotees Im a devotee-driver, he is a devoteecook and here is the devotional potato chips!!! No, please, stop..

We are searching for quality. So our offering is not only ringing the bells. You should give yourself also. This is our part to make the offering; and His part is to accept it. Will He accept the blowing the horn from a camion? I think something else He wants, a different music. His ear is very sensitive. And definitely He is not interested in your little this and that, that you mix in the kitchen. Because He has all the different varieties and excellent foodstuffs in Vaikuntha for example. They have much better stores than Billa. But where Krishna is eating? Not in Vaikuntha. He is taking at home and in the hearts of His pure devotees. He is eating in Mother Yashodas kitchen. And Mother Yashoda is tasting: Whether this is good enough for my Krishna or not. Once I had this kind of realization, that Mother Yashoda MUST taste the food, its impossible otherwise, because her love is so great for her little boy, that she cannot give something too hot, or may be its burning the lips, or something is missing. She must try whether is good or not. And if not then she adds something more and then in this way she will be happy and He will be also happy. But then I was a little schizophrenic: May be this is not correct. May be this understanding is not right. But then next time I was meeting some acharya and he said: Mother Yashoda is always tasting the food for Krishna. So, this is the quality of your offering. This is not simply the foodstuffs. In the same way, when you eat the prasadam, its the quality of your receiving. Because the spiritual power is there in the food but can you feel that? Or you simply take to fill up your belly, to enjoy? Even in eating quality should be there. We should be qualified eaters. Once in the ancient times there was one disciple and he approached his spiritual master: O my master, I have a doubt in my heart. There is Krishna Janmashtami, and there is this Radhashtami. And I dont understand something. What is higher Janmashtami or Radhashtami? And the Guru said: How come, thats obvious! What do you think? And the boy said: Well, we go on fasting all the day for Janmashtami. And on Radhashtami we fast only half-day. So may be Janmashtami is bigger, because there is a big fast, may be it is more important. But then the Guru said: How can you think in such an elementary platform, my dear? Because Krishna is very high, therefore you give high respect. But Radha is very sweet therefore you can eat at midday. So in Krishna theres more respect, in Radha theres more sweetness. Therefore our celebration is Radhashtami, its more sweet. Its more nectar included there and you should taste this sweet nectar of Radhika. The boy was listening with eyes and ears open. He was a good combinator. And then he said: But then Gurudev, why dont we eat all the time? Right? Very logical conclusion. Isnt it? Because if we can take the nectar all the time, if you can appreciate prasadam that much all the time, every day you should eat. This should be our mood to appreciate prasadam. If you have that mood, you should eat all the day. If you could sleep in such a mood, you should sleep 24 hours a day. So, finally, a new prospect for the brahmacharis, ha? I improve my meditation. Dont disturb me, Im in my yoga-nidra. But yes, if somebody has that quality of sleeping, his or her service can be his dream. Still, until you are not on that purified platform, control your eating, control your sleeping. But again dont forget about the sweet side of Bhakti, that some devotees were discussing and one said: You know, I came for prasadam. They were practicing half of their life. Second said I also came for prasadam. And the third one said: Hm, you know I stayed for prasadam. So this is the quality quality offering and quality receiving. And its a little bit more difficult to understand or to see these qualities when we talk about the human platform. When we talk about divine mercy coming to us, the picture is more clear. But who knows the power of a pure devotee? Its not visible for the eye, its not perceivable for you on the surface. Blessings work in a more penetrating depth of your existence.

14. Live, love, leave (from lecture of B. K. Tirtha Maharaj, 2 of September 2006, Sofia) If we live, than we shall find the best way how to live and for what purpose to live. Because we have to examine this problem of life in different ways: why did we come here, how we should live and what should be the goal of our life. If we want to put it in three words: life is all about live, love and leave. The wisdom is to do all these things in a perfect and correct way. I would like to draw your attention to ten principles, we can say the ten commandments of Yoga. There are five donts that you should avoid and five does that you should practice. The first thing that should be avoided is violence. If we avoid violence, than we shall be peaceful. Ahimsa you remember the great teaching of Mahatma Gandhi. He was helping people to understand the power of non-violence. Usually we think that if some powerful attack is coming to us, we should attack in the same way. But a person is very much protected by ahimsa; you can try it next time when you have some trouble. The second thing that we should avoid is telling lies; we should be truthful. Because if we start telling lies, then the whole system becomes very complicated you will forget to whom which version you gave. So its better to stick to the truth. Then you will have very simple version AND this will give you inner power. The third thing that we should avoid is stealing I think that is obvious, we dont enter into details in this respect. The fourth is: you should avoid uncontrolled activities in the different levels of your life like brahmacharya, to control your energies. We can say self-control; and by the control of the self, of the different levels and energies of our life, we can achieve a very powerful and very productive life. And finally the fifth thing that should be avoided is over-collecting. It is said that a western person has TEN THOUSAND I can tell you practically useless things in his home! When you go home, just count, start counting how much unnecessary things you have at your home. So we should find the level of enough what is enough for us. So these things are to be avoided then what to do? First we should practice purity. Purity outside and inside bodily and mental purity. Then we should practice contentment we should be satisfied. I dont know how it is happening here, but usually people like to complain in most of the cases with no reason. All the information, all the media tries to suggest us that we should desire more and more! Better we cultivate the philosophy of contentment. Then the third thing that should be practiced is simple lifestyle. Because the simplicity is very close to religion. Usually we over-complicate our lives from outside and become very we can say - stupid inside. Better have a simple lifestyle and high type of thinking. The fourth thing is learning, spiritual studies. We have to understand who we are, we have to understand where do we belong, we have to identify what is our goal. So in that respect information means that I am a spirit soul, Im not the body; and wisdom means that I belong to God. And if we study the scriptures the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita or whatever revelation from God then we associate with very high principles. And ultimately these ten commandments of Yoga say: isvara pranithana worship, service of God. So in this way from a very basic elementary information how to perfect our life, how to control ourselves we can come to the divine service. This should be our meditation, this should be our practice and this should be our prospect.

15. The sweet vinegar (from lecture of B. K. Tirtha Maharaj, 2 of September 2006, Sofia) If we are here in Sofia, definitely we should speak about philosophy, as sofia means wisdom There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge means information. Wisdom means complete vision of existence. And we can say that real wisdom is the practical ability to love. This is a great secret of life. And the reason why we practice the tradition of India is that we have respect for this ancient culture. Because in the form of this Indian tradition, something eternal and universal is preserved for us. Indian tradition is very ancient, thousands of years past it has. This tradition has survived so many difficulties, that we in the west didnt even meet so far. And if we learn from the wisdom of the East and the wisdom of India, then we can enhance our life, make our life more perfect. If we consider, India had given quite few valuable things to the whole world. These days for example meditation or yoga these are common words all over the world. But of course, sometimes there is a misunderstanding of the words, because they speak of fashion gurus, of firm theories and philosophies of companies but this is not the real thing. Guru should be a spiritual person; philosophy should deal with the ultimate questions of life. But in order to understand and trying to illustrate what is a practical wisdom, Id like to tell you a story. Once Confucius, Lao Dze and Lord Buddha were meeting together. May be the story is not quite exact in every respect, but still for the sake of understanding, this is very good one. So these three great personalities were meeting and they were observing one object it was a jar full of vinegar. And you know, Confucius is a very realistic person, his philosophy is very realistic. So he put his finger into the vinegar, tasted it and said: This is sour. Then came Lord Buddha, who is a little pessimistic about realities of life. So he also put his finger into the vinegar, tasted it and said: This is not sour, this is bitter. But then came Lao Dze, also put his finger into the vinegar and tasted it. And then he said: No, this not sour, but this is not bitter this is sweet! So this is the practical wisdom. We are tasting life, we are tasting the vinegar of life. Sometimes feel like this, like that but if you are wise enough this will be sweet for you. Be proud to be citizens of Sofia, of wisdom; and practice this wisdom to the better goal, ultimate goal of your life. Because we can find our happiness and we can make the life sweet by the connection of the Supreme Lord Lord Krishna.

16. Association with saints (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 3 of September2006, Sofia)

The way to achieve piece and absolute level of happiness full, complete happiness without any fear this is worship of Lord, Krishna. And we should grab the opportunity to associate with saints. Because anyway life means we have to associate with people. It is said according to ancient philosophers that human life means society life. And those, who are not living in society, they are not humans. If not humans, then what? Animals or? Divine beings. So those who are not living in society, they are either animals or divine beings. That means that during our lifetime we all the time associate. With your children

you associate, with your husband you associate, with your families, in your jobs, in your studies all the time you associate. And we are very fortunate if we can associate with saintly persons. What is the BIG chance in our life if we have this divine association? Otherwise one lifetime is just MISSED! 60-80 years, a whole existence is missed again. Just think how many lifetimes are behind your back without that opportunity to associate with saintly people. But now you have the chance. We are here together and we should grab the opportunity, dont miss the opportunity to associate with saints. Of course the association becomes very usual if you associate all the time. If you associate with Krishna once a year, then you can appreciate Him: O, You are so great, You are so nice, You are so God! But if He comes every day to you? Next week what you will say: Ah, again You are hungry?! Again you come with your desires for chapattis? Its very difficult to appreciate the person next to you. So you are very happy with the devotees in Alaska, but to tolerate the guy sleeping in the next sleeping bag its difficult . Our love, our appreciation should not be theoretical, it should be practical. Or just take a love affair. Until the lovers do not have each-others company, they are ready to do anything for that. When they come together, when they establish their life few year and: How can I get rid of this guy? How can I find another woman for myself? So you fed up with the constant associate. Therefore it is very useful to associate with saints from time to time. Just imagine, Gurudev comes and stays with you 365 day a year! Its very difficult to tolerate! Twice a year for some days when I can come or I cannot come, I enjoy my full freedom to be here or not be here - thats enough for me. But the quality and the intensity of that association must be CRUCIAL. Just count how many associates you have - in your family, in your wider family, in your homes, in school, in kinder garden, in this and that hundreds and thousands, right? When you go to the hair-dresser, when you go to the petrol station unlimited. WHAT association will stay with you? Which is important of the many? If you can mention FIVE, then you are fortunate. Association with the saints is very precious. Because with them we can cross the ocean of material existence. Krishnas blessings and the good company helps us very much. Therefore this is our ideal the pure spiritual association with the saints. Why? Because in this company its very easy to serve God. Recently somebody said: Its very difficult in the company of demons. And I said: Change the vision. We should not have that vision of opposing elements. But still we should understand that there are some favorable and there are some unfavorable conditions. To have saintly people around you this is favorable. And to have not so saintly people around you is also favorable in this way you could appreciate better what is what. After so many, many lifetimes if we come in contact with real saintly persons, we are very fortunate.

17. A drop of water on a lotus leaf (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 3 of September 2006, Sofia) In cold and heat I was suffering a lot; I was spending my life in vain. To live in vain its a lack of intelligence. Or we can also say: to live in vain is a bad luck. This time you didnt get the chance. But dont live in vain! Live for SOME purpose, some good purpose. And if we are intelligent, we should live for the best purpose. What can be the best purpose? To achieve anything material? No, it will not stay with you. There is a famous historical personality Alexander the Great. He conquered practically in that time all the civilized nations from here reaching to India. But then he gave the order

to his associates: When I will die, just put me in such a way that under the cover of my body my hand should be stretching out like this. (open) Why? Because he wanted to show, that although I am the emperor of the whole world, I will go empty-handed. Whatever you achieve here material assets you will just lose it like anything! Then the lazy guy will say: Then why should I achieve anything? If I will lose everything, then why should I take the trouble?! But until you did not achieve how can you renounce? Right? So first get it, in order to give it. We should learn this method first to work hard, to earn, to get the fruits; then offer it back to God. This is the way NOT to wais this lifetime. So dont live in vain, live for the best purpose. And for a little happiness, I had become a servant and a follower of bad people. This is the sad story of material existence that for a little benefit we are ready to do all the nonsense possible. We are ready to serve unqualified people in the hope of some benefit. But we are not ready to serve God, who is best, a well-wisher of everyone, for His satisfaction. Consider your life. How much you have given for yourself, how much you have given in vain in service to bad people and how much you have given to Him? But whatever achievement you might have in life like great wealth, youth, sons and families will not provide real happiness. They can give some kind of happiness, but this is only a reflection. We are part of a learning process. We have to learn what is happiness. First we try the elementary phase. But dont stick to it, dont stay there. Its almost natural that people take the low rasa in the beginning. But dont stay there go for the higher truth, the higher taste. And our search will lead us to the divine source. Life is short. But it takes such a long time to live through. Still compared to eternity its just like a flash. But it has meaning only if it is devoted to God, Krishna. Otherwise it is mentioned that like the drop of water is running down on the leaf of the lotus, life is so transient. You cannot make the drop of water to stick to the leaf of the lotus. In this same way you cannot maintain your worldly life for a long time, considerable time few years only. So for what purpose we use these 50-60-80 years? Live only according to body, to matter, to biology, instincts? Or you find some higher goal. You start to cultivate your soul. From gross bodily consciousness you can come to sukshma sharira , your finer constitution. And then the next step the atma tattva if you understand this is the real goal. In this way your hands will be full, full of valuable things. Then you are not a loser.

18. Pada-sevanam (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 3 0f September 2006, Sofia) Now lets talk for example about pada sevanam. What is pada sevanam? It includes simple menial services. And different other practices also belong here like visiting holly places, pilgrimage like this. But if we do some practical service in the ashram, in the temple, it is also considered like this. For example when you wipe the floor of the temple which is very simple service, its not complicated, you dont have two diplomas for wiping the floor - still there is a know-how, how to do it perfect. Prabhupad himself was ready to show to his disciples how to wipe the floor. Because you know, the westerners dont know how to make thing correct. He was showing that its not just SMEARING with all the nonsense, but wiping means collecting also. So this is the physical know-how how to wipe the floor. But there is a spiritual know-how how to wipe the floor of the temple. Because this is also a meditation. If I wipe the floor of the temple, practically I am cleansing my heart. Im cleansing the temple of my heart. To create a more favorable

condition for Krishna to come. Therefore we like cleaning our temples. We like to keep it clean. What is outside, that is inside. So you might say: A, Gurudev is maniac on cleaning the floor. But you get the point? Yes, you should also be maniacs to have your temple PURE as much as possible. Right? So cleaning the floor is considered very menial service usually some servants clean. But if we do this as a service to the Lord, with the deep meditation that by wiping this dirt off from the floor I cleanse my heart also then immediately this little insignificant service is just transformed into pure kind of meditation, an act of selfrealization. So this is the spiritual way to do our everyday activities. Again this is the quality that we have to come. Then whatever you do, it will be a loving offering to the Lord. Right? So we can improve on every little element of this bhakti process. Dont think that there is no next step. O, shravanam, kirtanam I have heard one million times, so I know everything about it. No, we are at the beginning! We should INTENSIFY our practices.

19. Why Krishna? (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 3 of September 2006, Sofia) We have to be faithful to Him its another practice in Krishna Bhakti, to be loyal to Krishna. You wouldnt like a servant, who is going here and there. Right? But you appreciate such a servant, who is very faithful. Against all the troubles and all the difficulties he is ready to serve. So being faithful is a chance for a disciple for example, or for a worshiper of Krishna to show his gratitude. And how can we express our gratitude to our master? By being faithful to him. Im your eternal servant. From today on Im yours. Then we can ask: why this Krishna?! There are so many options like Lord Jesus, or Shiva, or this, or that why exactly Krishna? Because He is charming young boy, holding His flute? Well, its not a bad approach, because He is definitely charming. But if we have only this superficial charm, thats not deep enough. But what does He say in the Shrimad Bhagavatam? He says: Before creation I was existing and except Me there was NOTHING else neither manifest nor unmanifest, nor anything beyond this. What you see now in this manifest universe is also Me. And what will remain after pralaya, after the annihilation will always be Me. So before creation, during creation and after destruction what is there, what remains, this is Him. This is one reason why we worship Krishna because He IS ultimate, He is ultimate existence. We consider Him as the ultimate source of the existence sarva karana karanam the cause of all causes. And you should know, He tells to Brahma that anything that seems to be real is nothing else but My illusory power. Illusion works in two ways. One way is when illusion shows an unreal thing to be real this is when it just misguides us. The other function is when it covers the truth. Whenever you see this, whenever you perceive this you should know: aha, this is His power, not independent from the Lord. And then finally He concludes: Those who search atma gyana should inquire in all circumstances all the time in all the places about the Supreme Absolute Truth. So therefore we should carry on this search search for divine hidden and obviously beautiful Lord. So if we ask Why Krishna? for this reason. He is the source, He is the cause, He is the maintainer, and He is the charming beauty of our life.

Any other explanation why Krishna? That is tattva; give me rasa. Why Krishna? Because Radhika loves Him.

20. Shyamasundara (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 3 of September 2006, Sofia) Krishna says in Shrimad Bhagavatam: I am there as Paramatman in all created beings inside and outside. This is the mystic and inconceivable power of the Lord that He is present inside and He is outside. That feature is named Shyamasundara. This is the inconceivable form of the Lord. Shyam means dark; sundar means beautiful. So from this inconceivable aspect you can choose which one you like: Shyam part or the beautiful part. Shyam in such a sense that its hidden, invisible, you cannot really understand. Through understanding its impossible to approach Him. But His beauty is charming us. O my Lord, You are so great, you are so nice that I dont understand You, but Im simply attracted to you. This is Bhakti Im attracted to you. Question of Shamasundara Prabhu: Gurudev, I have a question. The paradox form Shyamasundara is in the same time personal and impersonal this is absolute. When we choose one of the aspects of the absolute, doesnt it turn to something relative? Gurudev: Paradox is for complicated brain of male devotees. If we have got this unfortunate situation to have this complicated mind then we can waste our whole lifetime thinking about the paradox and missing the point of loving Him. So be simple. By loving approach all the mysteries that you cannot understand with your tiny brain, will be revealed to you. This is our bhakti process we try to come to a higher level of understanding through emotion. Because definitely He IS higher than us. The lower cannot come up to the higher, cannot GRAB. There is and Indian proverb: like a dwarf trying to catch the moon. Its impossible! He just jumps, jumps, but the moon is not coming. But Krishna can come to you, He can enlighten you - the DARK Lord can enlighten you. This is the way. We can also add that Shyam (the dark one) is Sundar (beautiful) when surrounded by the devotees. Of course this is a mystical darkness. Dont forget that when the old gopies complained about Krishna to Mother Yashoda that He is stealing our butter, because the ornaments are shining and in the dark He can also see, Mother Yashoda offered: All right, then Ill take off His ornaments. Then the gopies said: O, no! That you cannot do! And anyway His dark complexion is shining, so He will see!!! So even Shyam without Sundar even Shyam is mystical itself! This is such a darkness, that is enlightening the whole universe. So you can simply omit this Sundar Shyam is enough to meditate upon. Thats enough to break your mind. But still, you can call him Shyam! with this emotional surcharge. So He is beyond human logic. But He can reveal himself in the pure heart of the devotees. Question of Shyamasundara Prabhu: Gurudev, this is exactly what I had in mind. Because the paradox is inconceivable. But if only one side of this inconceivable is taken it seemingly starts turning into something conceivable. Or not? Gurudev: Well, I told you that even Shyam is impossible to conceive, so we dont need any further enhancement. You are right, you are correct according to human logic. But He is beyond human logic and He has a divine logic. What was the invocation of the Shri Ishopanishad? : From the complete whole how many complete wholes you take away, still remains the same. He is paradoxal Himself how many little paradoxes you stripe off from Him still He will be the same paradoxal person. So just leave these paradoxes! Through Bhakti all the paradoxes are harmonized.

21. The Lotuseyed (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 3 of September 2006, Sofia)

Krishna was alone for some time. Because His parents Nanda Baba and Mother Yashoda - were very satisfied to have a son, but their friends King Vrishabhanu and Kirtida Devi had no children. They had a very complete life, but without fruit, without children. So they were praying, and doing, and waiting and nothing happened. Finally they had a baby, they found a baby. They were very satisfied: O, we have a nice daughter, we are so happy, we are so fortunate! And they didn't even consider that this little girl was blind: It doesn't matter, may be blind, still we are very happy and very satisfied. You know, in India the beauty of the eyes is compared to the lotus flower. And the love of the parents is so great, that even if the child is blind by chance or by bad fortune, they might call him or her Padmalochana Lotuseyed. So the love of the parents puts beautiful eyes even to a blind child. Their eye observes the beauty even if there is a lack of good fortune. So King Vrishabhanu and his wife were fully satisfied: After so many tribulations finally we have a girl!Soon the new spread in Vrindavan. And you know, when a family has a new-born baby, they invite guests. They want to share the happiness: Come, join our happiness! You please also give blessings to the child. This is a beautiful principle that whenever we have any happiness, we should invite people and share it. In this way it will grow. And if you have some difficulties, you can also invite people, or at least try to share with some good friends, because in this way your distress will diminish. So they were inviting the gusts in order to share their happiness. And you know, everybody is very sensitive and very polite in Vrindavan, so Mother Yashoda and Nanda Baba didn't express their sorrow for the little girl not to have open eyes. You know, when there is a delicate question, you just try to overcome the problem, you say some nice words and then you just go and take some other subject. So they were also approaching and expressing their happiness: O, you are so fortunate to have a child now... and then they were going to take some little more chatting and prasadam and this and that. And the kids were left alone. So when Krishna was not under the care of the parents, what He was doing? Immediately approaching the cradle of Radhika. And you know, if you are disabled in one respect, God compensates in other respect. If you are blind, your ear will be very sharp. Or if you lose your smell, then the taste will be strong. If there is some lack, always there is a compensation. So the little girl in the cradle, without watching and seeing, could understand: Something important is happening! Have you ever had the feeling of somebody is watching me? Right, you didn't see, but you felt that somebody is observing me. Sometimes you just feel the power emanating from the persona and you can fix it:O yes, that was it! So Radhika had her eyes closed, but She was compensated in a grand scale She was so sensitive, that immediately She understood: Something is happening around Me. And Her feelings and Her sensitivity were so highly arisen, that She wanted to know, She wanted to understand who is there. And all of a sudden Her handicap just disappeared, She could open up the eyes. So She was not blind, She had the eyes, but the lids were closed. But at that moment when Krishna approached Her cradle She opened Her eyes. And what was the first thing that She saw in Her life? God. My beloved. Just imagine if the first look, the first object that you see when you come in this world, when you take birth, is God in front of you that would be nice. Our eyes are open but do we see? Better we close the eyes, may be we will see better. Because our eyes are

open to illusion; Radhika's eyes were closed to the world. Her eyes opened only for Krishna. So we should learn this from Her: we should open the eyes, but only to see Him. From this story, from this example we should understand also why the saints glorify the Lord: Now, my Lord, as I had seen You, my eyes, my vision have achieved perfection. O, now I hear Your Holly Name - my ears have achieved perfection. O Gurudev, you have come to my home my life, my home achieved perfection. So this should be the approach we should close our eyes to the illusion and we should open our eyes to the divine truth.

22. Union and separation of Beauty and Love (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 3 of September 2006, Sofia)

The perfection of vision should be a beautiful form. So from the cradle somebody is watching and waiting for the most beautiful thing to come to Her. And then She is compensated for the closed eyes, She FEELS: That is nice, but that is not Beauty Himself. So She feels when the real Beauty is coming then She is ready to open the eyes. So, Beauty is approaching, but who is hiding in the cradle? That is Supreme Love. Love, Divine Love, opens the eyes to Divine Beauty. This is the beginning of bhakti, this is the beginning of the divine love relationship. This is the ontological situation in Vrindavan, so to say. That sounds very dry. Still if this is the beginning, that should be the end also if you practice bhakti yoga, the same should happen to you. We should practice and we should pray for that thing happening in our hearts that Divine Beauty meets Divine Love in our hearts. That is Radha-Krishna worship in your heart. This is the way how to make a temple out of your heart. By purifying, by cleansing the heart. So we should create appropriate and proper situation for Radha and Krishna to meet in our life and in our heart. And of course later on Their connection was growing. And this divine connection was reaching certain pick points. But then, after fulfillment, separation was also revealed. Although They met, They were separated. Even while they were meeting, They had this fear of being separated again. I think you also had this feeling when you have some very good time, some very good company, but you have a little fear at the back of your brain that may be it will stop sometime. This very hidden fear is clearly described in the bhakti scriptures. So when They are together, They have the fear of separation. But when They are separated, They have the feeling of meeting again. Milan, Prabhu milan meeting the Lord. Therefore we can say: whether you are together or separated it's the same! It's intensive feelings. And I made an investigation in India last time with two pictures. There was one Radha alone, in a little depressed mood; and the other is Radha and Krishna close to each other. And when I met any devotee there, I asked: What you prefer, what you like better sambhoga or vipralambha (union or separation)? And all those who were very educated in the vaishnava etiquette and philosophy, they said: Vipralambha (separation). Most of the male devotees said: Vipralambha. But whenever we came to Vrindavan and

especially when I asked female devotees: What you prefer, meeting or separation? they said: Meeting. Anyway, whether They are together or separated, we should glorify this beauty of Their meeting. And if that meeting happens in our heart, in our life, then our life is fulfilled. You can try to understand the symbolic meaning of the story also. Because Krishna not only represents the ultimate Beauty, but He also represents knowledge. And Radhika is not only Divine Love, but emotions, feelings. So like brain, head and heart. If they are together, harmony is there. Right? But when the head and the heart are separated, it's a big problem, some pain will manifest. Therefore the purification process, or self-realization, should aim at the meeting of good head and good heart. And of course, we are speaking about the purest divine connection. We should not mix it with some material, worldly conceptions.

23. Hidden meeting in the heart (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 3 of September 2006, Sofia) Many people think that chanting of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra is a strict regulative principle of purification and ritual worship. May be for the beginners it is like this, but not for the higher grades. Because that mantra is the glorifying hymn of Radha and Krishna meeting. And we can say that the highest conception of Bhakti is hidden there. Because when the meeting is obvious, it's not so interesting. But when the meeting is hidden, when secrecy is there, it's more interesting. If you organize a lecture and you say that we give the basic teachings of philosophy, very few people will come. But if you advertise secret teachings - hundreds will come. Everybody wants to get some secret. Right, we have this nature if something is available, we don't appreciate it; if something is secret - this is for me, yes. Once Gurudev mentioned to some friends that Well, here is one magazine, here is one elementary book, and THIS book is for more advanced. And all of them said: Give me from THIS! So people want to be more qualified, they want to know the secrets and somehow the secrets are appreciated more. Therefore when the meeting is not so obvious, it's hidden, it's not direct, but through some medium, or somehow hidden more taste is there. Therefore if you say Radhe Shyam that's an obvious meeting. One party is Radharani, the other is Shyamasundara, so they meet and this is the story, obviously. But when you say Hare Krishna... not everybody understands the meeting, it's more hidden. We can say that sambhoga is hidden in the Mahamantra, or the meeting, being together is hidden in the Mahamantra. And actually we can say, that the Mahamantra is just like the rasa dance. They are running after each other, right? One Krishna, one gopi, one Krishna, one gopi who is first? So if you devote yourself to chanting this mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare the words, Radha and Krishna, are just dancing in a circle. So Their meeting is hidden there.

And the main figure of this divine dance is Shrimati Radharani. Until She is there, Krishna is satisfied. But there was some moment in this dance, when She didn't feel comfort. As I told you, She is very sensitive. And She understood that Krishna is dancing, but there are some other ladies in the circle, He is paying attention to others and not only to Me?! I cannot tolerate this! I was tolerating not opening My eyes, I opened My eyes only for Him, and now He is dancing with others?! No, I cannot tolerate that. So then She decided: I quit this dance! And although it is said that millions of gopis, of ladies were dancing that night, immediately when She left, Krishna understood that it's not the same anymore. So Krishna was also sensitive enough. He could immediately understand that My beloved is missing from here. And the He started to search after Her. So Beauty and Love, searching for each other. They are living for each other, and we should live fore Them this is devotional service. And the miracle starts to happening when this secret meeting of Divine Beauty and Divine Love happens in our hearts.

24. Cheating the Cheater (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 3 of September 2006, Sofia) Krishna is a tricky guy. From the cheaters He is the best. He is greatest we can say, He is the divine cheater. But once I think I told you the story already, so sorry for repeating it, but that's a nice story Krishna had the desire to meet Radhika during the day. And you know, during the night there is no problem, everybody is sleeping, nobody is watching They can meet as They want after sunset. But during the day it's a little problematic. All the people in the village can see, and they try to forbid, and you know, it's against morals, but Krishna had this urgent desire I want to meet Her right now, here and now! And in this moment a certain fever, a certain disease manifested in Him. Usually Krishna was playing with the friends, the gopals. And Sudham immediately understood that Krishna has some pain, He has changed, What is happening to you, o Krishna? And Krishna said: My heart just breaks if I cannot see Radhika right now! Bring Her, I want to see Her! Then Sudham said: Now?! How can I ?! It's impossible! And then Krishna said: Impossible exists only in the vocabulary of fools! Do something! Bring Her! I die if I cannot see Her! Sudham was a cute boy and fortunately he resembled Radhika very much. So he approached the home of Radharani and told secretly: Krishna wants to meet You! What shall we do? And Radhika said: Now?! O, it's impossible, my parents are here, everybody is here, I cannot go. But... I have an idea. So because they were resembling each other very much, they exchanged the cloths. They disguised each other so to say, and Sudham dressed as Radharani stayed at home and Radharani, dressed as Sudham, was still starting to go. And then Jatila and Kutila, who were always trying to curb Their meetings, appeared. And they said to Radhika: Hey, Sudham, you are here? Very nice, what is happening? And She had to invent something and said: You know, one calf is missing and Krishna is very worried, so I came for some little help. So Krishna, Govinda, is searching for one little cow, missing form the group. Again, find the symbolism. Then they

gave him (or Her) one calf and said: All right, you can take it, in this way Krishna will be satisfied. But don't disturb our Radhika! She stays with us, She doesn't go, So She went, disguised as Sudham. And soon She met Krishna. Krishna said: O Sudham! You could not bring Radhika?! And She said: No, no, no, this time it was impossible to bring Her. So She started to play the trick with Krishna. But if Krishna is tricky, She is, I can tell, cruel sometimes. Because then She made an offer: You know, I could not bring Radhika, but Chandravali is available. You know, Chandravali is always obedient to Krishna. She always says Yes. Radhika is ready to say No! to Krishna. Again try to understand the story somebody says no to God. Since the beginning of our religious studies everybody told us to say yes to God, right? And now we are talking about and we are worshiping someone, who says no to God! This is mindblowing idea! But Krishna was almost dying due to the separation. And then Sudham comes with this offer of Chandravali? This was just like a dead blow on Him, an ultimate punch. So He could hardly reply, but He said: I want milk; I will not be satisfied with yogurt. Then Radhika started to exercise her mercy: Hey You! You didn't recognize me! I'm Her. We might think, that this is an idyllic story. But if you analyze this, you will understand what is Bhakti about. Is it possible for anybody to cheat Her? If She can cheat the cheater God... I think it's not Krishna who is best, it's Her. Krishna is the ultimate source, but the best of His energies are manifested in Her. He has invested His best part, His most powerful part in Her. And in the moment She manifested, He became a slave. He lost His independence. So... if not even Krishna cannot cheat Radhika, we should not try either. We should be good devotees, because we cannot cheat Her. She is checking out the hearts. Because She protects Krishna also. And if somebody is approaching with an impure intention, She will protect Krishna, will not let in.

25. Intensity of the connection (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 3 of September 2006, Sofia)

All men very easily understand what is the difference between the motherly love and the conjugal love. It is suggested for the male devotees that they should respect all ladies as mothers except their wives. That's a different case. You see, all the respect should be given, all ladies are mothers, except my wife, because she is my best part. It's a different rasa, different feeling, different connection. From a theoretical point of view, Mother Yashoda is caring great portion of divine love, but that is a motherly type of love. This is not the lover's type of love. If we can measure although I think we cannot measure the intensity and the beauty of divine connections but if we try to analyze, then we can evaluate on the roles the partners take. So the first level is shanta rasa this is a neutral connection, when the worshiper simply appreciates the greatness of God. The second step is dasya rasa, servant; and a servant considers himself lower and the God higher: He is my Lord. There is a difference. Next step is sakhya rasa, friendship friends are on an equal platform, right? And in vatsalya rasa, motherly affection, parental love, the devotee considers himself or herself higher than the God: He is my son. And due to the divine affection God is ready

to accept this. He joins the play, He starts the game. And Krishna was ready to play with Yashoda. But in madhurya rasa, conjugal love, He is not ready to play the game, He is bound to do it. He has no choice. So the intensity and the level of roles according to this we can appreciate the different levels.

26. Merciful Lord (comments of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj on Dainya o Prapatti, 6th of September 2006, Sofia) O my Lord Hari, my merciful Lord, all glories to You, the Lord of Radha! Many times I had avoided You, but this time please, accept me as Yours! Recently we were just discussing how to pray in a correct mood. And we discussed that there are different kinds of prayers like asking something, then there are some atonement prayers and there are some glorifying prayers. This song combines both. It tells the sad story of a devotee: I had avoided You many times. But You are my beloved Lord. And although I have avoided You for many, many lifetimes now please accept me as Yours. So you can see all the different elements of prayers manifested here in this song in the first lines. Like praying for something, asking for some benediction; also atonement: I have committed mistakes but now please accept me. But also glorification: You are my beloved Lord. So whenever we pray we should combine the different elements. And this prayer is directed to the merciful Lord. So this is the chance of this prayer, of this person, who is praying like this that the merciful God, the merciful Lord will act mercifully. Krishna is also a just God. In one sense He distributes karma-phala, the fruits of karma, and He is doing that according to your acts He will give you the fruit, whatever you demand, deserve. But dont blame Him. It is said: Who sow wind will reap tempest. So if you act in a certain way, you will have to take the results. How many actions, how many words, how many thoughts are there! These are just like seeds that you sow on the field of your heart. And by time these seeds will grow, sprout. And all of a sudden your heart is just overgrown by weeds and then you weep: Something wrong is happening to me! I dont deserve that! Although it was you who have sown the seeds. So if God would be only just, then we should pay for all the mistakes that we have committed. Which more or less we have to do. But the devotees are smart. They are good investors. And they are very good businessmen also, spiritual businessmen. So they know that with the just God I will have some problems. So many mistakes I have done, so I will have to pay back the capital plus the interest. It happens like this you invest in activity and it will multiply, it will fructify. So we have to repay the debt in higher proportions. Therefore we try to approach Krishna as a merciful God. But not with a cheating mentality. Like: I have committed mistakes, so better I approach the merciful aspect of the Lord, because in this way I can play a game with Him that He forgives and then I can have my private life. f course that will not work. You cannot cheat mercy. Mercy comes unconditionally. We cannot enforce mercy. We should possess all the good qualities like desire to serve, devotion, sincerity, humility. But ultimately mercy will come by her own. So Bhakti has this quality that acts on her own. We cannot force, we cannot push. But definitely this is active, its a very powerful practice. Many times we cannot identify how it works, but it is irresistible. So: working on her own, powerful, irresistible and difficult to understand how it works these are the four qualities of the bhakti process. And mercy also comes by her own. If Krishna is distributing the mercy, it will come even if you dont deserve it. But this flow of mercy just binds us to obey. Then you cannot have this cheating mentality. May be you come with some hidden motives, but after you have perceived what divine mercy is, you cannot have that anymore.

And what is the sad story of a devotee in this song? I have avoided You many times. Mercy was coming to me, but I said: No, thank you! Its not for me. I avoided You. How would you continue that sentence? I avoided You, but You never avoided me. This is the difference between the human person and God. I can leave Him, but He is not ready to leave me. Same with the guru; the disciple can always leave the guru. But the real guru can never leave the disciple. So, enjoy your freedoms! Later its too late. So I have avoided You, but You never avoided me. This time I am changing my mentality. Take me, accept me as yours. What happens if someone is accepted as Gods, belonging to God? That so called independence that imagined independence, that fake freedom is just gone. Please accept me as Your own. This is a very intimate prayer. O my Lord, after wandering through many different wombs, finally I have come and taken shelter at You. Please, please, liberate this wretched soul by Your divine mercy. Bahu yoni bhrami I have been wandering through many species, many different wombs. But this lifetime I have the chance of the divine birth. Please, liberate this wretched soul by Your divine mercy. Divine mercy is the antidote for the poisonous snake of material life. So far this is the sad story of the devotee. And now comes an exclamation: O Lord of Radha! So its not a simple approach to some far away and unknown God. But this is very high type of approach not to the just God, but to the loving God. O beloved of Radha, o lover of Radha, You are the cause and the life of the universe! You are the everything of everyone! So that is the glorification part You are the everything of everyone. If we would have that vision, thats a high understanding, a high realization of God consciousness. And that Loving Beauty in the next verse is mentioned that You bring blessings to the world and You are the Lord of the universe. O my Lord, where can I find shelter if You turn me down? Finally I came to the conclusion that in this world only You can save Your fallen servant. This song is about humility and dedication, dainya and prapatti. Whenever you feel that you are lacking these characters, just sing this song. And immediately you will remember how many lifetimes you have taken, how many mistakes you have done, what is the goal and what is the approach to the Lord. But dont lament what has happened. Past is a history; future is a mystery; present moment is a gift.

27. Truth with capital T (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 6th of September 2006, Sofia) Truth is the Truth. People have many small little truths. But the Truth we should write with a capital T. That is only one. Theres no question about it. And until we see the many truths, this is on the relative platform. As soon as we can come to the higher platform, than we shall see the relativity of the multiple truths and the bright shine of the one Truth. On the relative platform there are many different truths. But I would sharply differentiate between the Absolute Truth and the different levels of validity that we approach in the material world. Because the further you see, the brighter the Truth is. The more blind you are, you see only one step ahead. The more enlightened a person is, sees the consequences also. So he is a real mystic, because he has the vision of the future, which is a mystery. At the same time he is a historian also, because he knows the past, how it was happening before, although past is a history. Therefore he is the true man, living in the present moment. Because he is not satisfied with some past histories and he is not satisfied with some future mysteries, but he want the complete and perfect present moment. In the Upanishads it is said: Satyam eva jayate Truth always wins. Whatever is covered, it waits to be uncovered. Truth always wins. Many times on the relative platform

we see that this rule is not working. Its not happening, right? The sinful wins and the faithful loses. But its no problem; time is on our side. When the truth should not be mentioned? For example in love. If you love somebody, not that you dont say you cannot say the truth. And if your faith is deep enough in the person, may be he or she will be beautified. Dont forget, if somebody has many bad characters and has some good, or ONE good and he gets trust that one good character, one good mark will prevail. But if somebody has many good qualities and few mistakes, if that person doesnt receive trust from the seniors, elders, master, est. the bad characters will prevail. So in a loving contact its not that we should not, we cannot tell the truth. But lets not speak about such a high platform. Come to reality! Use the brain. When the consequences of that truth will be destructive, it should not be told. If I destroy myself good, tell the truth, no problem. But if you hurt others think twice, think three times, think hundred times! And you must have heard about this graceful lie. For example doctors, mothers, fathers, friends in so many cases we apply this. Right? Because you can kill with the words. The words are sharp weapon. Or again dont tell the truth when there is no hope. For example I remember one event: there was an old, old, old man, almost eighty and he got cancer. And the family members told the doctor: Please, tell the grandfather to stop smoking, because cancer is coming from his smoking. And the doctor said: No, it doesnt help. I will not tell. This is an extreme, may be not a positive example, but when there is no hope, even if he gives up smoking he will die, at least let him enjoy the last cigarettes. So there are many occasions when there are higher considerations than Truth. Remember the story of Yudhisthira and Arjuna. Many times I have told you. When Arjuna received his bow he gave a vow: Anybody who condemns my Gandiva bow, I will smash him! This was a standing oath of Arjuna. And during the Kurukshetra battle one day it happened that Yudhisthira was attacked heavily. And somehow Arjuna could not come and protect him, because he was occupied with fighting someone else. But you know, this was in ancient times, so even fighters had different mentality than today. Meanwhile when the attack was going on, the sun was just suddenly set. And after sunset we are not fighters, we are not enemies, we are friends. So the fight was stopping by the sunset. Everybody went home to their respective camps and Yudhisthira was meeting Arjuna. And you know, Yudhishthira always tells the Truth. Poor guy, always tells the Truth. So he said: Hey Arjuna! You promised me that you will protect me even if you have to sacrifice your life! But today I was so heavily attacked and you did not come! Fie on your Gandiva bow! And Arjuna immediately said: What?! You criticize my Gandiva bow!? I will kill you, smash you on the spot! Krishna was there. And immediately when Arjuna after sunset, just imagine was starting to kill his brother, for whose glory the whole fight started, he was ready to kill, he was so overwhelmed Krishna caught his hand: Hey my dear, what are you doing? And he said still furious: You also heard! He criticized my Gandiva bow so Im ready to kill him! But then Krishna said: Wait a minute. For whom you are fighting? For whom did you got this Gandiva bow? Why are you here, my dear? What is the higher consideration? But my oath! What is higher? He immediately understood. Therefore we can come to the conclusion that war is for the sake of piece. Although it sounds very stupid, like previously they said we fight for piece. Thats ridiculous. Anyway, its not that piece is for the sake of war. Right? So if we always have in mind the higher considerations, then Truth can be set aside. Why? Because Truth will prevail. Truth will always win by herself, not for me, not due to my contribution. Truth is strong enough by herself, much more stronger than myself.

28. Where do we want to fit? (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 6th of September 2006, Sofia) How well a devotee will be suitable outside? Most probably not so much. But it doesnt matter. You dont lose anything. Because if you lose material company you lose only obstacles. But if we come to devotional circles or saintly people, we are searching for friends, but we are finding relatives. So association must be a different type, not a simple one. If we sit together, its not a simple sitting. It must be a divine sitting. And dont forget what Shrila Muni Maharaj explained last time that once Mahaprabhu started a kirtan and stopped: Wait! Wait a minute, somebody is here, who is that? Somebody was hiding behind the column. He said: Bring him out! His presence disturbs the atmosphere. Although Mahaprabhu is considered to be the Merciful Avatar. And He said: Get this guy out! Because He was merciful with the others, right?! You should not disturb them, go out, if you dont want to be here. If your heart is not throbbing on the tact of rasa-dance. So where do we want to fit? Once a devotee was invited to a TV show. It was a life performance. And the reporter asked: Dont you feel that if you act like this and follow this path you are a little freak person from the normal consideration? And you know, this was a very easy show for cultural events and this and that, so everybody was smiling and happy. But when the answer came: Well, in the society of fools the only normal person will be considered foolish, then the smile on the face of the reporter was just frozen immediately. You can imagine, it was just on the air like this! In the society of fools the only normal person will be considered stupid. So they soon finished with the questions. But of course if we make the next step, from the practitioner you will come to the master degree, then you will have no problems and you will fit in any society, in any group of people. You will find a way to the hearts of everyone. This is for the masters. Until we are not there on that platform, we see the difference, we differentiate between situations, people But one main principle we may follow: give proper respect to everyone. What does it mean? It doesnt mean that I respect you and therefore I agree on all points and I follow you. No, I give you respect, but I have my opinion. May be we dont agree on many points, may be your ideas are completely different. Just imagine when you meet a simple, materially-orientated person. If you are on an elevated platform, because you have a divine or spiritual vision, you give respect to the person: O, you are very nice person, right? But it doesnt mean that you follow all the practices that the person has may be some are low or improper practices. So dont expect if somebody pays respect to you that he will follow and he will agree on all points. The case is that WE should pay respect. But others also should not expect total surrender instead of this respectful situation.

29. Affectionate friendship (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 6th of September 2006, Sofia) Dont be afraid to lose some contacts. If somebody gives up your company because of your commitment, its not a loss. Once there was a story. In one temple - I think somewhere in the West, I dont remember which place - the main pujari(priest) of one temple was invited to join the other temple. And he went, he joined the other temple. You know, its quite unusual the main person from one temple just shifting to another temple, its quite unusual. And the acharya (the master) in this temple was upset: How come that they enticed my main pujari!? When I heard the story I thought: well, if somebody could

take away my main pujari you know, a main pujari means a very intimate servant, a very responsible service - if somebody could take away my main pujari, its good that he is gone. If he is not so fixed that he stays if the stars and the moon and the sun are just falling off the sky but he stays in his place, if its so easy to move him get out from here. Better you go; dont wait for tomorrow, go now! Because that is not a commitment! And definitely on second place this is not a mistake of the other temple. This is my mistake. If I cannot take care of my main pujari so that he feels comfortable and he feels this is my home, then it is my mistake. Right? So if you lose some companions dont mind. If they are ready to leave you, you didnt lose anything. Why? Because affection is beyond sampradaya, affection is beyond school. Its not limited. Affection is beyond. Of course our affection is with them, so its painful to leave their company, we miss them. But what can we do we should pray, we should so to say give blessings, ask blessings on the person to go on in their endeavors in the hope that we shall meet again. Recently weve made a research how did we come. 90 % of the devotees were coming from personal contact. So we can say that friendship is the basis of our spiritual friendship which is a different level of commitment. This is not a simple friendship that you can change according to your likes or dislikes. For example to have a god-brother or god-sister relationship this is something beyond the human understanding. Its a very high type of commitment. People are ready to exchange their friends like pair of socks. Is that a friendship? Is that a loss? Better go barefoot, my dear. What is friendship? We can give a definition of friendship like unity and sharing in happiness and distress. Shared happiness and distress. This is friendship. So if your friendship is on that platform, that you cannot change. The ancient classical people say: The friend is your second self. Your second self can you leave that? You cannot leave that. Its not for exchange. If somebody exchanges human relationships like socks good for him. We are riding a different boat. How can I ever leave his service?!1 says Prahlad. How can I ever leave his friendship? And if you lose something, you shall be compensated. Because what we can lose? Can you lose a real thing? Whatever you lose, it was not the real one. A real thing you cannot lose. If any connection you lose from that you can understand: it was not the real one. Because if it is real, it stays with you forever. So dont lament over losing something. We lose only our illusions. Then comes disillusion. How is called the next day after you are drunk? To sober down. You know what Im talking about. The first day is illusion, the second day is disillusion its a little bitter. Sorry to be so basic, but you have a desire to vomit. Because you realize: Yesterday I was wrong. So if we lose our illusions, its a little bitter experience, but ultimately its good. But even if you lose something, you will be compensated. You lose your false connections, you will receive real connection. Its better to have open enemies than false friends. And ultimately we should understand who is our real friend. But you know, we are so stupid, that we dont understand! You are living with your real friend for years and you dont understand. You simply think that he is a simple guy. Because usually the subordinate does not understand. And the leader or somebody in a higher position has much more affection towards the son than the opposite way. Or we can say simply that the master loves the disciples much more than vice versa. So enjoy your freedom! Later its too late. This is the tragedy of masters. But this is a sweet tragedy. And hopefully they will be also compensated by the Lord. Without losing we cannot gain. No risk, no gain. But we have a different version: No risk, no pain.

Srimad Bhagavatam 7.9.28; Prahlad Maharaj is speaking about his spiritual master.

30. Go for shelter (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj on Sharanagatipart 1), 7th of September 2006, Sofia) In order to provide mercy for the fallen souls of this Earth, Shri Krishna Chaitanya descended into this world with His personal associates and with His divine realm in order to educate the people about Sharanagati dedication to the almighty Lord and to distribute freely otherwise almost unachievable ecstatic love of Godhead. This song is called Sharanagati - gati means to go, go for something, go for sharana, for shelter. Sharanagati is the life of the true devotees. Sometimes there might be a question: what is the difference between a vaishnava (a devotee) and other practitioner of any other type of religion? On the surface it is very difficult to find difference. Because sometimes devotees are the same fanatics as other practitioners also could be very narrow-minded. Many times they have the same shortcomings, the same mistakes as the normal human beings. And in certain cases we might see that the other religions, or other practices do have bigger effect on the outside manifest platform on the practitioners. But the characteristic feature of a vaishnava is that dedication is his or her life. There are six elements of sharanagati. There are two as the threshold, as the entrance. These are: do what is favorable and avoid what is unfavorable for your bhakti. These are actually not the practices of sharanagati, these are just preparations to do it nice. Use your brain: what is good for your spiritual cultivation do it! What is harmful dont do it! This is not devotional service yet, this is just simply: use your common sense. If you want to go to Plovdiv, dont take the train to Dimitrovgrad, right, because it goes in the opposite direction. Common sense. And still this very simple basic principle is so difficult to put into practice! People are ready, they want to light the fire. But from time to time they bring a bucket of water over the fire not for heating, but just pouring on it. Its a little stupid! You want to enjoy the heat, the light and the energy of the fire, and you bring water?! Whats that!? Or to create conflicts its the same. Is it helpful for your spiritual cultivation? Sometimes yes, because from the difficulty, you know, may be some more results will come. But as a rule we can say: better preserve your peace inside. Or to start a gossip does it help spiritual cultivation or not? I think everybody knows the answer: no, it is not good! Still the vaishnava news network works in a very good speed. So even the basic, elementary practices of sharanagati are so difficult to practice. To do these we need control, we have to control ourselves. Therefore the basic principles are given in devotional service how to control the body, how to control the speech, how to control the mind. Bhagavad Gita describes it in the 18th chapter. So you can check it out what does it mean. Because if you dont know what is control, how you can do it? Bhakti Yoga is a double-sided process: one side is bhakti, the other side is yoga. Everybody has some conception about bhakti: O, these are some feelings. But what about proper knowledge? What about control, yoga? We have to know what is real control therefore we have to learn, we have to study that. So please, all those who want to progress in devotional life, in devotional service, you should learn this controls how to control the body, the words and the mind. In this way we can do the favorable and avoid the unfavorable. Favorable is to associate, to do some service, to chant your rounds2 all these practices are favorable. But what is unfavorable to be lazy, to be negligent or not to learn the basic controls.

Daily chanting of mantras or prayers with a rosary is a main practice in bhakti yoga. Your rounds refers to repeating the prayer specific number of times (or rounds with the rosary).

(to be continued)

31. Humbly give your heart and soul (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj on Sharanagati-part 2, 7th of September 2006, Sofia) Try to remember: the first two elements of sharanagati are: do what is favorable and avoid what is unfavorable for your bhakti. The next two are subjective duties. These are humility and dedication of the self. They are subjective practices, because this is our own part. These qualities we have to practice, we have to achieve. To be humble I think that is obvious. But we should be humble in the proper circle. If you are humble in a group of fools, you will be fooled. If you are humble in a group of cheaters, you will be cheated. But if you are humble in the group of devotees, you will become devoted. Why? Because the human soul is just like a crystal. In whatever circumstances you put that crystal, it will take, suck the influences. Take a pure, transparent crystal. Put it in Damodar Prabhus3 hand. Hold it in front of his chest. It will reflect the pure white light emanating from him. Give the same crystal to Mother Yasoda. It will emanate blue light. But if you put the crystal in very dark, very bad circumstances, it will reflect that what is around. Therefore we should be careful with our humility. Do not be a weak crystal. Do not take the bad vibrations, select only the good, pure ones. Shrila Shridhara Maharaj discusses humility: if a thief enters the temple and snatches away the candle-holders from the altar, what is your humility? Will you say: O, Prabhu, here is the cash of the temple, take that also?! Is this the correct humility? Or you will say: Hey, wait a minute, Ill beat you up if you try to give some disturbance to our Lord! Just to show that this is not a prescription, this is not an always standing recipe, I will give you another story about humility. Once there was an old monk, living in absolute seclusion. He had one little hut and only few belongings. Like one little pot very few things. Once a thief came to steal everything from his house. The guy was loading everything on the back of a mule when the old monk came back. He caught the person on the spot. He was observing that the hut was empty already and everything was loaded on the back of the animal. Then he saw some mattock that was hiding somewhere in the garden. The old monk said: Wait a minute, my dear, here is my instrument, take this also and he put it on the back of the mule. That was his level of humility. With this type of humility he won that person. Immediately he understood: O, I have offended a great saint! and surrendered on the spot. What is the difference between the two stories? In the former case somebody tries to give disturbance to the temple. In the latter somebody is giving trouble only to you personally. For Krishna, for the temple, for the mission you can fight. You can protect Krishnas interests. You can protect the person from committing a great mistake. But if somebody tries to take away something from you, actually this is done by Krishna. And if He has forgotten about something, you should remind Him: Hey! I still have this attachment. Please, take this also! Because I do not want to depend on my mattock, but on You, my Lord! So humility, real humility should be practiced. Therefore it is suggested that humility should be practiced in the company of saints. The second subjective part of surrender, sharanagati is dedication of the self. There is a prayer: O please, accept me as Yours, as Your second one, as Your second self.

Damodar Prabhu, Mother Yashoda in this context: disciples of B.K. Tirtha Maharaj, present at the lecture.

Dedication of the self is manifested on that platform, when I fully give myself to God. In exchange to this, He is also fully giving Himself to me. Dedication is a special quality of service mood. You can clean the floor with hatred and you can clean the floor with dedication. It is not only performing a duty. It is the quality, how you do it. If this is your profession, you are professional cleaner then you do, all day long But you are only waiting four oclock to come and you forget about it! You get rid of the broom, you just forget about it! But if you are a devotee, can you forget about serving Krishna in any kind of place? So it is not only performing a duty, it is not only engaging your senses. Give your heart and soul! That is dedication of the self. I think you can feel it is a very broad field from elementary practices reaching up to utter, ultimate dedication. When you do not even preserve or keep your life for yourself, when you fully dedicate your life to Krishna. Practice humility in such a way that you do not offend and you do not disturb others. Humility is not a show; this is rather action. Actions speak louder than words. You say Hare Krishna sixteen rounds a day, but you are not ready to serve?! This is just like putting an invitation on your door: Welcome! And when the guests come you do not give a piece of bread, you do not give a glass of water? You invite Krishna: Come, come! and when He comes you do nothing. Maha-mantra is the invitation sign. Be ready to accept your guests! (to be continued)

32. Lack of faith needs proofs (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj on Sharanagati-part 3, 7th of September 2006, Sofia) The two elements that we discussed so far humility and dedication of the self depend on you. And finally the two last elements of sharanagati are, we can say, the objective elements of dedication. The conviction, that Krishna is the maintainer of everything; and the second is the deep-rooted faith that He will protect us from everything. I am sure that you feel the difference between these two. Because the first is again theory: yes, He is the maintainer, He is there this is just like theoretical conception. It is nice to understand that He is behind all the trees Just remove a piece of stone, I am there; just cut a tree you will find Me there But how to put it into practice, this is the second part when you have firm and deep-rooted conviction that if you serve Him, He will protect you. This is the way to become abhaya, fearless. May be I am weak. May be I have no power. May be in a street fight I would be smashed into pieces by the strong guys. But I have full faith that Krishna will protect me, irrespective of my physical power, because we are working on a metaphysical plane. We are not the bodies strong or weak. Until we are neophytes we put Krishna to tests: If You exist, now show Yourself! Sometimes devotees are just like kids. Once one devotee decided: Well, if Krishna exists I will just close my eyes and without any crossing I will pass this highly trafficked road. He succeeded, but I do not think that this is a high type of understanding of Krishnas protection. Because lack of faith needs proofs. But this is only for the beginners. Those who have deep faith, they can work without proofs. They can work against these proofs! Not only these proofs, but disproofs! That is faith! Every morning you should chant Shikshashtakam! The last verse says: Whether You come to me or not, whether You accept me or not, I am Your unconditional servant. How to practice this deep-rooted faith? We must have the eye to see that, to perceive that. Therefore we can say that first is the conviction that Krishna is there behind everything. We have to train ourselves to permanently think about it, to always remind

ourselves: Yes, Krishna is there, Krishna is there, its Him, somehow this is a manifestation of Him. And when the things start to happen, simply you should not miss Him from before your eyes. I would not put Krishna to tests. Life is complicated and difficult enough that gives tests to us. But we can conclude: So far I have survived by the grace of Krishna. In a logical way we can conclude that it will happen in the future also. And I will live exactly until the moment of my death not before, not longer, exactly until that time. Is there any problem? Everything is under care. Sometimes we do not see that, sometimes we do not perceive that. Therefore we only have to purify the vision to see Krishna everywhere. You know how to do it. By chanting the rounds your eyes will open up. You will see the hidden extra-beauty of life and the hidden arrangement that is pervading this whole existence. Therefore you can observe your life. This will help you to understand what is deep faith. And also if we associate with faithful people then our faith will grow. But I think real faith is achieved in difficulties. To practice faith, we can observe or examine, but this is a theoretical approach. The other way is simply to feel it how Krishna is carrying me in His palms. Just to put your cheeks into His palms. And it is much better if you approach His palm with your cheek, then if He approaches your cheek with His palm. These are the elements of sharanagati, dedication of the self. Practice favorable, avoid the unfavorable this is the entrance. Then the subjective part be humble and dedicate yourself. Then the objective part have firm understanding that Krishna is the maintainer and deeply-rooted faith that He will protect you. The young boy of Nanda Maharaj, Krishna, will listen to the prayers of all those, who seek His shelter through these six practices. So if you want to achieve that Krishna listens to your prayer, this is the way. Through these practices you will reach the destination. You do not have to become mystics, because by these practices you can reach. his is the real mysticism.

33. From darkness lead me to light (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 7th of September 2006, Sofia) This evening we have had an appointment to meet the full moon. The full moon will always help us remember stay in light forever. Asato maa sat gamaya, tamaso maa jyotir gamaya, mrityor maa amritam gamaya4 from unreal lead me to real, from darkness lead me to light, and from death lead me to eternity. This is a beautiful, general prayer of the Vedas, which everybody can understand, irrespective of tradition, religion, creed, even language But of course the general meaning always covers the hidden meaning. From unreal What is unreal? Everything that we believe is very much real, you should know, it is just a dream, it is unreal. For example, all the suffering - and all the happiness that we feel to be so realistic is just a ripple on the surface of the ocean of our mind. In order to understand the real, first we have to understand the unreal. It is very difficult to comprehend that what we perceive so realistic, it is not that. The meaning of the Sanskrit word maya is not that. From the unreal we have to come to reality. This means a path, a progress. We start our journey somewhere and we must have a destination. Therefore it is said, that life is such a mystery, that we should not think over it, rather we should perceive it. Because if we take the experience of reality, then we shall know face to face what is real and what is
4

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.3.28)

unreal. The Supreme Lord is hiding there in everything. Even in the hearts of all the living entities the Lord is hiding. We should take the consequences; we should understand what this really, substantially means! If God is there in my heart, I am never independent. I am there in and under His divine protection. he more I dedicate myself to Him, the more I will be spiritualized by Him. Reality is said to be much more beautiful than this illusion. I think as people you have some understanding about beauty, for example beauty of feelings or beauty of nature. From time to time I am just wandering in your country and I am amazed! That is an inexhaustible storehouse of natural beauty. Like a mine of beauty! This nature belongs to someone. And the possessor of that beauty must be even more beautiful! We have learned that Krishna has a bluish color, His skin is bluish. I have a friend; whenever he sees a cloud, he asks: Is this Krishnas color? When he points at some nice sheep-type clouds, this is not Krishna. But when it is dark-blue, heavy with rain, that is the Krishna color. In this way it is so easy to remember this beautiful Lord. Whenever you see dark-blue, it reminds you of Him. The next line of this prayer is Tamaso maa jyotir gamaya - from darkness lead me to light. Usually, every spiritual person is striving for divine light or enlightenment things like this. I do not know how it is here, but in Hungary over the entrance of the cemeteries it is written: Let there be eternal light for them for the dead. Everybody has this understanding, that light is good. Let there be light and there was light.From darkness lead me to light: the first reading is very simple yes, darkness is bad, it is lack of understanding, lead me to light, enlightenment! Simple! I realize the message. But just recently we have understood that Krishna is the dark Lord. Then how can I put this message altogether? From darkness lead me light, what is that? The dark hue of Krishna is not the usual one. His darkness is emanating light. Just imagine such a dark person, who is shining. It is an interesting paradox. But still, what is the sentence here from darkness lead me to bright, lead me to light? Who is the darkness this is Krishna the dark hue, dark blue. Then who can be this bright person? This is radha-dasyam, the service of Shrimati Radharani. She is the beloved of God. And She is the person who loves God most. So, from simply to understand that there is a highest God, we should understand that there is a highest Goddess. That is the real enlightenment in vaishnava tradition, in our line. And finally from death lead me to eternity. This message is also quite clear. In most of the cases people have fear of death. Usually, you are afraid of something that you do not know, that is hidden from us, secret, mysterious. That creates certain aversion. As people do not know too much about death, they have this fear of death. This is a heavy psychological burden on most of the human beings. Still it is easy, because death is a moment, it is one occasion in your lifetime. As Kali Yuga this dark, iron age is progressing, now people start to have fear of life - not only fear of death, but also fear of life! This is worse, because it will stay with you for this lifetime, it is not only one occasion it is permanent. Therefore until we do not see the beauty, the glory and the divine chance of our life, we might have this fear of life and fear of death. Actually, first we should eliminate the false concept of mortality; second - we should pacify our intellect; and third - we should search for the satisfaction of the heart. Follow these steps: sat understand that you are eternal; cit pacify your mind; and ananda search for the happiness of the soul. This is the way from mortality, from death to immortality.

34. The saints (from discussion with B.K.Tirtha Maharaja, 7th of September 2006, Sofia)

I have a humble request to you. Let us think for few minutes and find a definition for a saint. Who is a saintly person? Whom we can consider a saint? It is not necessary to think, to intellectualize too much, but what comes to your mind if you mention saint, saintly person? Prema Bindu: Authorized by God. Tirtha Maharaja: Can we check it? May be we cannot check, but we can feel. Please, remember your versions and do not be influenced by listening to the voices of others! Be strong in your definition. Can we go in rows, so that everybody can give opinion? Shyamasundara: Someone, who through his actions sets an example to be followed. Raga: Who gives light. A shining person. Ram Vijay: Who knows the truth, sadhu. Yashoda: Who has dedicated his life to God. Damodar: It is included in the word (in Bulgarian) who has dedicated himself. Keshava: Self-realized soul, who sees in his heart God. Somebody else: Who have transcended the boundaries between the human and divine. Somebody else: Who has no fear. Nikhilatma: For me that is a person, who attracts me. I am longing for his association. Manohari: Who sacrifices himself for others. Keshava: Dasa-anudasa, who tries to serve the servants of the servants of the Lord. Somebody else: Who is compassionate. Prema-lata: Who is able to transform others into saints. Valyo: Who can be a connection to eternity, peace of the mind and happiness of the soul (sat-cit-ananda). Nelly: Who is humble. Rukmini: Who has become close to God. And close to sinless. Somebody else: Everybody who has come to God no matter of the steps he is a saint. Somebody else: One who has real love who can feel and give real love. Small Dani: The purity that is breaking the ice of darkness, transforming it into light and brings the others to development. Dragi: The sinless people. Yamuna: The one, whom when you meet, you fall in love. He is a person, who can satisfy both the mind and the heart of people. He speaks with simple words, but is able to touch the very core of everything. Who can see the hearts of the people and speaks heart to heart. Damodar: Who is very dear to God, because he has found shelter at His lotus feet. Somebody else: In the presence of a real saint I will feel a different atmosphere, I will feel full satisfaction, I will be enlightened and uplifted. Sasho: Who understands the science of knowledge and ignorance and who becomes a jivan-mukta transcending the cycle of birth and death. Premananda: Who gives the soft light of the oon in the heart. Raga: The Sun! The Sun! Revati: Those who renounce material life, also renouncing emotional and psychological dependencies and giving everything that they are in the service of the people and the Lord. Somebody else: Who inspires people, animals and flowers. Yadunath: One who has surrendered to light, who is now made of light and is constantly transcending light. And not only light, but divine light. And at the same time I

think my definition was a bit poor after what the devotees said and I knew there was something more: a saint gives you a very special feel of different qualities of divine light. Nikhilatma: Very dear to all living entities and has no enemies. Somebody else: All of us can become saints, but first we have to want it, second to deserve it and third: they have to give it to us. Yashoda: The saints have the ability to permanently change our life for good and to excavate the good side in us. Somebody else: Every next meeting with him makes you better and better person. Somebody else: First you have to renounce and then you have to dedicate yourself. Somebody else: God who has come to earth. Somebody else: Who is in harmony with himself and others but complete harmony. Somebody else: I think everybody has different saints and the question is not what are they, but who are they. Who is my saint? Tirtha Maharaja: So, if we summarize all these beautiful qualities that you mentioned - well, to find such a person, I tell you, is rare. Who can fulfill all the requirements? Renouncing and dedicating, humble and shining, small and great it is rare! Because you were giving a full list of divine qualities of a saintly person. But certain common points you mentioned. In this respect I would like to quote you one verse from the shastras, from our tradition. It is said: As the rivers do not run their water for themselves, but only for the sake of others; and as the fruit-bearing trees do not bring their fruits for themselves, but only for the sake of others; and as the clouds do not pour the rain for themselves, but only for the sake of others, similarly the saintly persons do not live for themselves, but only for the sake of others. But that you can do only if you are very close to God. If you are close to the Source, then you are close to the essence. If you live for God, you live for everyone. If you live for yourself, you live for nobody. And from your list I could feel the need, the urgent need for the company of saintly people. From this list we all can understand why the sadhu-sanga, association with the saintly people is so important for us. Because yes, in a company of a pure person my heart, my life will change. The association with the saints is very important in our lives. Do not miss the opportunity. The devotional company should be very strong. If we always appreciate the qualities of the saints, of saintly devotees around us, then the company will be very strong. If you take one stick of incense, it is very easy to break it. Take one pack of incense. Try! It is almost impossible. Remember this. If the company of the devotees is united, nothing can break you. But if you are all alone We should appreciate the holy company. We have one motto in our devotional circles: One for all and all for one Therefore we say: Sadhu-sanga sadhu-sanga sarva shastr kaya lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya5 - associate with the saints, associate with the saints, because in their association you can easily achieve all perfection. All perfection - because it will be given to you, it will be reflected on you. Once great preachers were sitting around Shrila Shridhara Maharaja. And you know, he was a person to hide. He was always hiding, pulling back; he was not moving
5

Chaitanya-Charitamrita, Madhya 22.54

from his temple in Navadvip. And therefore because he was a high quality saint all the Vaishnava world was coming to him. He was a sacred place of pilgrimage himself. People were approaching him, he did not have to go to people. That is a holy place. So they were sitting around him and he was giving very soft teachings: Preach! Go and tell people! And finally he said: I give you the rights. I empower you to do this. So if these divine qualities are reflected on us, shed on us, then our life will change. Please, cultivate this divine association, do not miss a chance, do not lose a moment for this association! Because finally if you reach, if you return back, you will understand what was the real help in your life. May be now the picture is overcomplicated for us. But at the end when you just return back, turn your head and check out what was happening it will be a perfectly clean and unbroken line to reach your destination. And who are standing in rows by the side of your path? Who are congratulating you when returning back? Who are forming the bricks on your path? These are the saintly people. Just look around and you will find them.

35. The ever-fresh inspiration (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25th of November 2006, Sofia) Faith is a natural dimension for human beings. Without faith we cannot really identify a human being. We have discussed already what is faith. There are different opinions about this topic. There is the classical definition that faith is the firm conviction that by serving Krishna every other purpose is served. This sounds a little theoretical. This is a definition by tattva, tattva means by principle. First we should learn this definition that by serving God, all other purposes are served in life. If we agree on this point, it has some consequences. On the average platform we think that by serving ourselves, all the purposes are fulfilled. That is the hidden move of human beings to pose themselves as God. Because according to this definition this kind of thinking concerns God. Actually we started our discussion on an intermediate platform, because for most of the people faith means that I believe something that I do not know. Right, I do not know, therefore I believe. The materialist will say: I believe if I see. And a spiritual person will say: I will see if I believe. Using only the same words in different sequence and the meaning is totally different. For us faith is not a shaky conviction. Not something that I do not know, therefore I just simply believe. No minimum it should be the firm conviction, that by serving God, all other purposes in life are served. But beyond this theoretical definition, there is a rasika explanation also. That is the ever-fresh desire to be connected to that source from where divine happiness is taken. O, it is an unexpected definition of faith! Divine happiness is coming from that source?! To be connected?! And this is an ever-fresh inspiration to be connected to that source?! This should be our faith a living thing. This is real faith, this is real conversion when your faith starts to be alive. It is not enough to have the theoretical idea that yes, there is God, but to have the doubt: did He exist?! There is God, but did He exist?! Not like this! This must be an alive experience. Beyond the theoretical conviction this experience of God is important. But how to take divine experience? How to achieve that? Well, expose yourself to the divine mercy. Do not hide, be brave! First we have to learn the elementary phase of this science. Then we have to be practitioners; and sooner or later we have to come to the masters degree. Masters degree not in the sense that now my faith is accomplished, finished. But in the sense that I can apply that into my practical life.

If faith makes a human being a real human being, then we should cultivate faith. How do we cultivate our faith? First we are full of doubts: Why should I believe? This is totally against the conditionings that I have in my life. I was reading slowly for thirty years; they want to teach me fast reading?! Why should I believe that? I have my conditioning. I am attached to my conditioning. Why should I give it up? Why should I believe that this method works? If there is a little trust that you give to the process, then you start checking it. And do nt forget, the conditioning of illusion is strong! She is very strong, she performs her duty very fine. All the world tries to teach us, that we belong here, this is our home. Then faithful people will start to explain that Well, maybe you are here, but this is not your real home. Find your home, way home, back home, back to Godhead. Actually, we can say, that religion is to turn a house into a home. Do you feel the difference? Here we are stranded. Stranded means when the fish is out of water on a dry bank. We should find our natural element, our home comfort. So first we should give a little trust to the process to test it against all the bad and limited conditionings that we have in our life. Everything tells us: Try to enjoy! Then somebody comes and tells us: Try to serve! That is opposite message! That is shocking message! Be humbler than a blade of grass. Be more tolerant than a tree. Be ready to respect anybody without expecting any respect for yourself. In this way you will be able to always chant the holy name.6 It sounds very impractical. But that is a proof, that there is something hidden there. If the distance between the average standard of life and the preaching is small, do nt believe that. But if you hear something that is unbelievable, that is impossible to accomplish go for it! As our teachers say, If you go on hunting, hunt for a rhinoceros. Do nt go hunting for little rabbits. You are equipped with a big machine gun, with special glasses, making you able to watch during the night, special Rambo knife is there with you and then you shoot the target and hit a little rabbit?! That is ridiculous, my dears! No, hunt for a rhinoceros. Do nt put a very low target in your life. Because one aspect of human nature is to have faith. The other aspect of human nature is to have failure. So if you set a low target, you will miss that. Set a high target! May be something you will achieve. Just like when guru comes and gives you devotional service. One service. Then you have the chance to use all your talents to find the excuses and you will be able to explain to him and to yourself that Gurudev, this specific service is impossible to do. But if the guru is clever enough, then he gives you ten different, or hundred different tasks. He knows very well that you will not accomplish hundred. But even if you accomplish half that is fifty achievements. If you have only one service and you do not perform that it is a hundred percent failure. But if you have hundred engagements and you perform only half that is fifty percent achievement! Therefore gurus work on this principle. They are very liberal to engage the disciples. They give many heavy duties. At least some we should perform. This is faith, when the impossible starts to become natural for us. Now you are laughing! This is true, my dears! This is true! Have you ever believed that you will have the chance to chant the holy names of God?! Do you give a chance for miracles to happen in your life? Or you are conditioned so strongly, that you resist the miracles?! We should be ready, we should give a chance for miracle to embrace us. Shrila Shridhara Maharaj says that the faith is the strongest power of a human being, by which you can bridge incredible gaps. Think about your power! You are very powerful! By your faith from matter you can come to spirit. From yourself you can come to the Universal Self. From your brain you can come to your heart. Small distance long way.

Shikshashtaka, 3

36. The Milk Ocean Story (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25th of November 2006, Sofia) We should cultivate our faith not in a challenging mood, but in a positive way. Just like when the demigods started to churn the Milk Ocean. It was such a heavy job, that although they were very powerful, they were not enough to accomplish that. Therefore they needed help and they approached their natural enemies, the demons: Help us! Come! Let us have a joined venture. Let us have a common business. We can share the results. So they agreed: All right! What is the stake? What is the possible achievement? Amrita, the nectar of immortality. All right, that is good. Let us do it together. What is the job? Well, there is this Milk Ocean, we have to churn it. How to do this? For churning milk you need a stick, right? They were putting the Mandara Hill a huge hill as a churning stick. But if you put a mountain in the ocean, it will just disappear, sink to the bottom. They needed a support. So Vishnu as Kurma a big, divine tortoise came to support the whole thing. We might think that even Vishnu was ready to serve the joined venture of demons and demigods, which is a very nice approach like God is so humble to help His subordinates. But actually the story is a little different, because Kurmas back was itching a little bit. You know, for a tortoise to scratch the back is quite difficult. Therefore this Mandara Hill had to be put on His back to finish the itching. For that reason it was moved on His back. Also to move the stick of the churning, you must have some rope. You know how they churn: they just pull the rope and in this way it is just moving. But to move the churning stick of the universal Milk Ocean, you must have a hard rope. So they started to use Vasuki, the divine serpent, as a rope. And you know, there was a contest between the demigods and the demons: which end of the rope to take. The demons thought: Well, to take the tail of the snake is not so prestigious. hey arranged in such a way, that they could catch the head of the snake Vasuki. The demigods started to laugh under their mustaches: All right, we are ready to take the tail. Then they started to churn. That was a heavy movement, so Vasuki was a little under pressure so much so, that he started to emanate fire and smoke, and everything was just coming out of his mouth. So the demons, at their prestigious position to be at the head of Vasuki, became a failure, because they were burnt and they were smoked like this. But finally the joint venture started to function. And you know, when you churn the milk, it starts to separate and certain things start to come to the surface. So what was appearing first at the surface of this Milk Ocean? Poison came first. This was the halahala, the poison. They were searching for nectar and what did they find? Poison! It was a highly dangerous poison, able to finish with the whole world and existence. hey needed help, because both parties were threatened by death. Then Lord Shiva came and he just drank the whole poison: I can take it, no problem. As he is the master of yoga, he just preserved the poison in his throat, in his neck. He did not die, but still the poison had some effect his throat became blue. hen the demons and the demigods could go on churning. Then the first treasures started to manifest. What was the first one? The horse Uchaishrava came, Airavata came

the elephant of Indra and Lakshmi Devi came. And so many precious things came, but they had to wait for the nectar still. Also Dhanvantari appeared he is the universal doctor and the authority on Ayur Veda. And finally the nectar came. Then they started to distribute and snatch from each other, but I do not want to enter that part of the story. So, by churning the universal Milk Ocean, finally they achieved amrita. We can say, that the Milk Ocean represents our life. We have to churn our life. Because the ocean of our life is fully laden with treasures. We have to use all the forces that we have good and bad you have to unite your good and bad forces, habits and powers to churn your ocean, to get the nectar. We should make Vishnu, Krishna, the basis of this process. And do not be surprised if you start churning your ocean, that the first result will be some poison. You expect nectar poison is coming. You expect happiness difficulty is coming. Do not be surprised, because it is said that first you get what is less important. First a little bitter pill. Then comes the nectar. You know, there are some medicines which are very bitter and very difficult to swallow. But then the medicine-men cheat the patients. They put on the bottom something very sweet. There is one oil with special taste castor oil. On the bottom of the cup they put some very nice juice and on top is this heavy oil. If you take it in one swing, you will feel only the sweet taste. This is the illusion process of the medicine-men. So do not be surprised if poison is coming first. This is necessary part of the cure. But we have those, who can digest this poison. Therefore one function of Lord Shiva is to take the poison from you. He can help us in that respect. Guru is just like Shiva, who is taking the poison. God is the basis. The churning rod is the danda of the sannyasis. The rope is your japa-mala. I think the poison you can identify. You will recognize when it comes: Ah, this is it! But when the treasures are coming this we can identify as the different aspects of the divine blessings. And the other precious achievements from the ocean are just like the good qualities of devotees. Then ultimately, finally, after so many achievements, you will achieve the final nectar. Efforts must be there. Blessings must be there. It is said that the divine mercy starts to become an active principle in human beings. Remember this: Blessings become active in humans! Also it is said, that as a cart does not move on one wheel, without the human efforts no divine mercy can help you.

37. Mistakes become ornaments (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25th of November 2006, Sofia) If we have devotion to Krishna, even the mistakes become glorious. Therefore we can say that a vaishnava, or a bhakta is always good, there is no bad bhakta. Bhakta is good, better and best. Even a young, a neophyte bhakta is just an uncut diamond, in a rough state. Even in that state it is very precious. But when it becomes a brilliant after cutting, handling nicely and polishing, then all the shine will come forth. If all the devotees are uncut diamonds, we need a master, who will make brilliants out of them. We can say that the brilliant is the essence of a diamond. Then what is diamond? It is the essence of graphite, and ultimately coal. Still something must be added to the coal to become a diamond. What is that? Time and pressure. Big pressure. Both are necessary. It does not mean a lot of suffering, but this is a process. We have to pay the price. Because you use the coal in the stove and you take only the heat. But you do not burn your brilliants. Because brilliants will bring different vibrations. No lady would ever be so stupid to decorate herself with black pieces of coal. Therefore you know, in the beginning of the love affair the future husband comes with a brilliant ring. Few carats, not even one gram. But if you come with ten kgs of coal to conquer her it does not work. Coal and

diamond bring different vibration. We should all become cut diamonds. Do not remain coal. It is useless to wash the coal it will remain black. Nevertheless if you give pressure and if you give time, from the dark and black coal transparent diamond can become. And how to use the bad sides in the spiritual process? We have to identify the bad sides, what are the bad elements in our life. What are the six enemies that we have? Kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (illusion), mada (madness) and matsarya (envy). Kama, krodha, lobha are the three main enemies. How can we use them? How can we apply in the spiritual process kama?! Take the example of Kubja. Kubja was a hunchbacked lady. But she had passionate love for Krishna. And her love was so strong, she wanted to serve Krishna so much, that big transformation happened in her life. You know, Krishna has a special taste. He does not like hunchbacked ladies. He likes beauties. Therefore when Kubja was bringing a pot of sandalwood paste to offer it to Krishna with all the prayers, then Krishna decided: Well, I do not like the form of this young girl, better we make some little corrections here. He stepped on the feet of Kubja, fixing her, and catching her by the neck. All of a sudden from hunchbacked she became with erect back. By the divine touch from the questionable beauty started to become an incredible beauty. So if you have this passionate love, this kama approach to God, you can use it, no problem. And krodha, anger? You should be angry at your mistakes. Best use of your anger! Lobha or greed? We discussed before that without real greed, you cannot catch Krishna. You must have spiritual greed, you must be greedy for bhakti. Then moha, illusion. How can we use illusion in bhakti, which is for enlightenment?! The goal is enlightenment and you use illusion for that it is impossible! No, even illusion we can use and worship, because we want to forget that God is great. We want a personal God, a friendly God, easy to approach. This is a kind of illusion, but divine illusion. Then mada madness. We should be mad for Krishna. Do not have a well-mannered ecstasy! This is just like a controlled wild fire. Wild fire should be wild. And the ultimate one is envy, matsarya. This one you cannot use. Envy cannot be used in spiritual progress. This is the only thing that should be excluded from the process. All other mistakes you can use. Even these enemies can be applied in our progress.

38. The protective dog (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaja, 26.11.2006, Sofia) Manasa deho geho my mind, my house, my body all I devote and sacrifice to You.7 I bow down in front of your house giving up everything I have at your lotusfeet. You are the Supreme Lord. Please, accept me as a protective dog at Your door. This song is a cry of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. He sets a very high target. Whatever I have, I offer it to You. I have a body, I have a mind, I have a house. Everything I give to You. I preserve for myself nothing. Nice words! Our heart is flying yes, this is it, I would like to do that! But when the time comes and you have to invite and tolerate a guest more than a weekend, it starts to become difficult. I give my home to You do you really mean it?! I dedicate my body to You do you understand what does it mean?! I give my mind. My mind is not anymore mine I give it to You. What does it mean if you offer your home? That you will be a guest in your house; or maximum a servant. You are not a proprietor anymore. Therefore Bhaktivinoda says:
Excerpt from the poem Manasa deho geho, explained further with quotations form the poem Sarvasva tomar charane sampiya from the cycle of songs Sharanagati by Bhaktivinoda Thakura
7

Keep me at Your door as a protective dog. The dog is not living inside, he is living outside. So if we want to offer our home to Krishna be ready to live outside. And as we are all guests here in this universe, somebody is a host. Who is the host that is God ultimately. We are living in His home. It is not that He is living in our home, but we are living in His home. First you offer your home it is very easy, because it is outside of you. To offer something, that is not us is easy. And then Bhaktivinoda Thakura says: But I offer my body also. Not even my body belongs to me. That is a more demanding sacrifice. Because the body is so close to us. This is our instrument to express ourselves. This is what you feel as your prime possession. We are so proud of having this body. To offer it means that you offer all your activities in divine service. Is that easier to offer the body than to offer the house? More difficult. But the most difficult is the mind. I offer my mind to you. How to offer the mind? How can you offer the mind to something? How can you dedicate your mind to something? One definition of love is I remember you often. This is the way to offer your mind. I do not think of myself but I think of you because of my emotional contact. Just like a dog is connected to the master by the leash, in the same way our mind should be connected to Krishna by the chain of divine love. My mind, my body, my house I dedicate to You. Keep me as a dog at Your door. You will keep me on a short chain and You will feed me and I will stay at Your threshold. Those who oppose You I will not let enter, but I will keep them outside. Dog is not considered very high class animal. But some good characters can be learnt from him. For example loyalty to the master. Of course we have to teach a dog who is the boss in the house. Once you have to overcome him. But then he will know: He is the boss. And then whatever happens, he will follow. Even if you beat him, he will love you more, he will obey you more. So if you are a dog outside the house of Krishna, be prepared to get sometimes some little chastisement if you do not behave nice. But you will get some prasadam also. He will take care of you. And You will keep me on a short chain. Short chain means that you are close to your master. Just like a devotee. A devotee can work on a long leash; or on a short chain. But if there is no full dedication, neither will help. I had seen, we had seen in vaishnava history that some devotees get big freedom they can do whatever they like. Their master is so tolerant, that he provides them big freedom. But then they stop certain spiritual practices. Others are on a very short chain and do the same. So it does not matter how long or how short is your leash, but it matters what is the level of your dedication. And those who oppose You I will keep them outside, I will not let them enter. My everyday food will be the remnants from the prasadam of the devotees. Unlimitedly happy I will make a big feast with these remnants! Whenever I sit or lay down, all the time I will meditate on Your lotus feet. Anytime You call me I will jump, and dance, and come to You. Although I do not care about my life, still I will be happy all the time. I consider You my only maintainer. Although these words are an interpretation of another song, if we really offer our body, mind and home, this should be our position. We are not running after any prestigious position like Brahma, but if it is necessary to take another birth for me, I want to live in a home of a vaishnava. I am not attracted by material enjoyment or liberation. There is only one desire for me to be Your eternal servant from lifetime to lifetime. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Thakura prays like this in order to remind us to take a humble position by offering whatever we have and to live in that dedicated mood.

39. Generosity and sacrifice

(from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 26.11.2006, Sofia) The demand is high. Krishna is not satisfied with little. He wants the whole thing. But still He is tolerant enough to help us to understand these points. Remember, first He only invites you to sacrifice for Him a little water, flower, fruit This is the economical religion. Cheap. O, this I can afford. Little water to God fine! It is not a big job. This is for me, not an expensive religion. But then in the next verse, you remember, He says: And everything else I heard that your boss here,Todor Zhivkov, had a very special signal with the hand, right? He has learnt it from Krishna. First He says: little water; then and everything else whatever you do, whatever you sacrifice, whatever you give, whatever you have just give it to Me! He is this type, He helps you to give. He is called Hari who takes away. He will take away all our not really the possessions, but the attachments. And in this respect Krishna has a good help, he is called guru. Once there was a devotional company actually my brothers. They were living in a farm, and you know, as young men, they were attached to cars. Finally they bought a Volga an old one, which was of course a garbage bin, it was impossible to move. So, most of the time, the puja was around the car, everybody was worshiping may be it will move some time. Next week Gurudev came and he understood that they had bought a car. Immediately he said: What?! A car in a farm?! Sell it immediately! Later on he came after some time and then again, you know, time goes and they had to work so they have a car again another Volga, but that was working already. Then again Gurudev8 came and said: What?! A Volga?! Why dont you buy a better one? Why? Because first there was the attachment: O, we need a car! Second time there was a fake humility: Volga will be enough. So guru comes and cuts all the false ideas either your attachments, or your false humility. Just like Krishna: first He treats you nice and then He qualifies you. It is easy if this giving mood, this distributing mood, is manifested from the beginning out of a devotee. And it is not necessary to physically give. If you are ready to do then the game is over, you have learnt the lesson. Just like Vasudeva when Krishna was born what did he do? He donated cows by the millions in his mind. Because when a boy is born, usually the parents distribute wealth. They donate to the brahmins, to the needy, because this is an auspicious moment. But they were living in a prison house, so he did not really have access to his cows, so what did he do? He was donating in the mind. We can say: Wow, again this is very economic! This is it! It is enough to donate in the mind. It has the same value. So I can keep, I can preserve my cows. But in my mind I am very generous. And how degraded the situation is right now, I understood! You know, to donate - Indian people know it very well :It is my duty. It is not for his benefit, it is my benefit. And once I met a husband and wife the husband was Indian and the wife was Hungarian. They came to the temple and before they started, they were collecting some little rice and this and that for a present, for a donation later on the lady told me. I was talking with the husband - we had a very nice discussion - and finally they had to go. And you know, when the husband came out of the room, the wife told him: Here is the gift that you wanted to give. And the man said: Well, better we do not give. This guy does not need anything! I was amazed! Such a tricky mind! I was amazed! No words! Do not be that tricky mind! If you had said something that this is for you then do it! Keep your words. If you had said: My home, my house, my body, my mind is for You then do it! Do not cheat! It is good to get, it is sweet to get. But it is more sweet to give. To make somebody happy this is real happiness. And if with the little sacrifice, the little dedication that we give we can make Krishna happy, then the whole universe becomes happy.
8

B.A. Narayan Maharaj

So, step by step. First we have to come to the position to give. But it is suggested that if you are so poor, that you do nt have anything, at least you give some ashes. Ashes everybody can give. Give something! Give your time. Give your attention. Krishna Bhakti is not a question of money! Give something to Him. In this way we should understand that I do not want to preserve for myself. If this is a nice process ultimately we can give everything that we have. And the vaishnavas, the scriptures, the guru teach us to do this. Just imagine if Gurudev comes and says: Now you sacrifice everything and dedicate your life fully, give up all your material attachments! He comes and tells you this immediately can you do that? Most probably we cannot do that. Well, I do nt know your qualities, but I could not do that. Therefore they follow a gradual process. Guru comes and tells you: Chant these rounds. Or he says: Wipe the floor, chop the wood, bring the water. This we can do! This is the training process: when the guru says something, we should say: Yes! However difficult it is we should say: Yes! Because if finally he will say: And now give up all your attachments, we shall say: Yes! Right, because we are trained to say Yes and do the job! So the guru is a good trainer, always pushing you to do it better. Because the Olympic game is approaching, so you have to perform in your top ability. Giving is joy. Sacrifice is joy, says Shrila Shridhara Maharaj. Beautiful sentence! Sacrifice is joy!

40. Attachment and love (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaja, 26.11.2006, Sofia) Krishna is not interested in what you give to Him, because practically everything belongs to Him. But what you want to preserve for yourself - that invites His interest. How is it? We discussed the story many times that Krishna is Makhanchor, He is stealing the butter. He is stealing the butter from the stock of Mother Yashoda, but He is not satisfied with that, He goes to the neighbors. From the neighbors He also snatches the stock of butter. We can elaborate on the story, but just focus on the essence. Then the neighbor ladies are upset and they complain to Mother Yashoda: Hey! Your kid is coming to our homes and He is stealing our butter. Then Yashoda is trying to chastise Krishna: Why do you go to the neighbors? We have enough butter for You. You know that in my home the butter is preserved for You. But Krishna is not satisfied with the butter which is set aside for Him. He wants the butter that is hidden from Him, what the gopis want to preserve for themselves, so to say. We agreed that the butter is the essence of the animal kingdom. And animals are the essence of the life of the gopalas. So this is the essence of their life! They want to preserve it, hide it, keep it in stock. But Krishna will come and usurp it. So beware! Krishna is a butter thief. If you want to preserve, if you want to hide the essence of your lives, He will come and snatch it from you. Better we give! Because what we do not give, we shall lose. But if you give, then you lose only your attachment. For a mother it is suggested to see Krishna in the kid. Or if it is she, then Radha. Then you will be attached through him or her to Krishna. This should be our approach: God has come to me in this person. Therefore the husband is the god of the family. But the wife is the goddess of the family! Who is stronger the god or the goddess? I do not enter into more details, you think for yourself. If we have that appreciation in our minds: that I treat this guy as a god next to me that is a different level of human connections. But then you see that: Hey, but my kid doesnt behave like a god. Or you will understand that The god of our home, my husband, is off the line, he doesnt meet the standards! But it is his business; your business is to have the vision. To give up human attachments this is a great job. But this is very good, that we are following the path of attachment. If we would only renounce, then bhakti would be

bitter. But everybody says that bhakti is sweet. And how is it sweet? What is the reason for its sweetness? Because of attachment. This is raga, raga bhakti, attached devotion. And if we are attached to something higher, it is very easy to give up the lower connection. If you can jump into your Mercedes, you forget about your bicycle. Well, this example is not quite correct, because better we get out of our Mercedes and ride the bicycle morally and ecologically it is more correct - but I think you understand what I mean. So if you have a better option, if you have a higher taste, it is very easy to give up the lower taste. It is said in the Gita: You can give up the lower taste if you have a glimpse, a little particle of the higher taste. So do not give up your attachment; transfer that. From a mortal human being transfer it to God. But how to care, how to be there although I am not attached? This is the art of family life. To perform your duty without expecting anything in return. It is difficult. But you, mothers, you know something about it. We can do this if we have a little distance from the situation that we are in. If we are fully engaged and forget about ourselves by doing, then it is more difficult. But if you have a little distance, then you can see the picture. Then you can be prepared that now I raise my kid, I wipe his ass and in twenty years he will say: No, mother. I will go my way. Still, what you have to do now? Wipe the ass. No problem. Our ideal is to be a humble servant. So if life gives me the chance to be a humble servant what is wrong with that? By raising the level of our consciousness we can do it better. So give freedom. Do you want freedom for yourself? We need. Maybe we commit ourselves, but by our free will. I want to do this. But we want that freedom of choice. Right? So give it to others. What you want for yourself, provide it for others. Attachment will bring suffering, love will bring pain. This is the divine mathematics. An equation. So please, cultivate what you have, because this is a treasure.

41. The four mans roles (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 26.11.2006, Sofia) Men have four roles. One is the fighter. Man should be a real man. Usually we think that man should be a fighter. Therefore if you go to a martial arts training, you will find mostly men. Sometimes you will find women also with mans character. This is a classical role for men. God is also a fighter. We worship Krishna as a fighter-God. He is ready to fight for justice. Krishna is ready to fight for you! This is a divine role for human beings. The second main role for the man is the king. King means not only the enjoyer of the top rang, but he is a caretaker, a well-wisher. He takes care of the subordinates, it is not only that he collects taxes and harasses the subordinates. He takes care also. In India there was once such a maharaja; whenever he went out of his palace, he was distributing the same amount of gold and silver coins as his bodily weight. How many times the president is coming out of the palace? How much distribution is there? This person was not only collecting, but distributing also. And the king should not take care only materially, but spiritually also, because it is said, that the king will take one eight part of the karmic reactions of the subordinates. Is it good to be a king? Just think: the more subordinates you have, the more karmic reactions will come on your head. Therefore the subordinates must obey by the rules. And the king has to perform his job nicely. We worship God as king also. Krishna is our God and He is our king. Therefore we put a crown on His head. But He is not a worldly king, taking only one eight part of your karma. He is a transcendental king,

divine king; He can take hundred percent of your karma. Is it good to be a subordinate of such a king? Are we ready to pay our taxes to Him? He is a good king. The third role for a man - this is the lover. Have you ever met this type of lovers? Like troubadours from the Middle Ages? This is a little outdated antagonism in the twenty first century. But these lovers were not physical lovers. They were spiritual lovers. Without a beloved there is no lover. We worship Krishna as a lover. There are different grades of lovers. There are some small-scale lovers. They are the chaste type, the loyal type. They love only one. Then there are the medium-capacity lovers; they try to love more and more. But you know, human capacity is limited. But Gods capacity is not limited. Krishna is so attractive, that not only one, two or few ladies are running after Him. But all the ladies of the three worlds are enamored with Him. May be this is little embarrassing to hear that you fall in love with God. But more we can understand this when ladies fall in love with the representatives of God. You can be enamored by the representative. Why? Because he represents somebody. And now, without going in too much detail, ladies have high expectations. And those expectations only a god could fulfill sometimes! No human being on earth could meet those expectations. Therefore we worship God in such a way, that He is capable to attract all of us. He is the Supreme Lover. And we can be His supreme beloved Well, may be not the Supreme, but we can also be His beloved. This was the romantic aspect of human nature. What is left? The mystical role. The mystic role is the magician. The magician, or the monk, or the high priest this is the mystical role of a human being. He is not running after love, he is not running after power, he is not running after influence. But he is running after Gods union, unio mystica mystic unification, how to meet the Supreme. This fourth role is considered the highest for men. And we worship Krishna as the highest magician, supreme magician. Once a magician came in Krishna Balaram Mandir to visit Shrila Prabhupada.9 This was happening in Vrindavan, and you know, in Vrindavan, there are some good magicians. This guy, all of a sudden, started to manifest some precious stones. At other times he was just pulling rupees from the ears of Shrila Prabhupada. So he was making funny jokes. The devotees were little embarrassed, but Prabhupada was laughing and enjoying the show. And then, all of a sudden, he changed his mood. And he said: No. Your magic is nothing compared to my magic. Because you can create some little rupees and stones. But I can convert, I can change, I can save these guys and girls from death. From death I can lead them to immortality. Mrityor maa amritam gamaya. This is the real magic from death you can come to eternity. So this fourth type is considered the highest. And we worship Krishna as the highest magician. Because for Him the impossible is possible. I think if we could agree that God is the best fighter He fights for you, He fights for liberating you; if we agree that He is the best king, He takes care of you perfectly; if we can agree that He is the best lover, I am attracted to Him; and if we can agree that He is the best magician, He can put a divine spell over me then why should not we put, render ourselves under such a sweet and influential care?!

42. Network of conditioning (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 26.11.2006, Sofia) We are practicing Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti means divine love, yoga means connection. Everybody likes to be connected. As we have taken birth here on earth, we are connected. Sri Srimad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) spiritual master, a great preacher of love of Godhead, who distributed bhakti to the western world. He is the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
9

We breathe the same air. We live on the same surface. We share similar troubles. And we should live for the highest ideals. We are connected. And this connection brings influence over us. Just imagine, think how many influences are there in your life!? You are the son of your mother or the father of your son. You are a husband of your wife or you are a boss of a family. You are servant of a country, friend of your friends, enemy of your enemies. We have different roles, so many different roles. Our life is just like a network. And this network brings us different roles. These roles give some conditionings to us. And we are connected to our roles. If you make a list how many different roles and how many different engagements you have, it is a long list. And just think, if you would all of a sudden lose all your conditionings, you would feel I have lost myself! Just imagine, you lose your family, you lose your job, you lose your identity card big trouble all of a sudden! In normal condition we think that we are like this, we are like that, I am this, I am that we have false identifications. We are under the influence of these roles and the network. Very few people are ready to search for their real identity. And even less people are able to change their identity. But there is one basic rule. If you want to get out from one influence, you have to put yourself under another influence. This is an important message, please, pay attention! If you feel any burden on your hearts, on your shoulders, this comes from the conditionings that you have. So free yourself from these conditionings! But this is only possible if you put yourself under another conditioning. But instead of a bitter conditioning, take sweet one. Illusion or the network of conditioning can teach you by the stick. Krishna can also teach us, but His stick has holes. That stick is His flute. So come under divine conditioning! Come under divine influence! Life is What is life? Some say a path, a river. Very optimistic. Be more realistic. Suffering. The more pessimistic might say: life is a failure. Somebody told me that the world is a ship, sinking fast. Yes without the divine influence our life is a failure. So, invite the divine influence in your life! We are not born for suffering. Ultimately this life is a chance to take the experience and to express our connections. Instead of suffering for yourself, you could serve the Supreme Lord in a happy mood. Instead of lack, you could have fulfillment. Life is an adventure. We are guests here. Wanted or unwanted I do not know. But we should search for our home. Because we are either at home, or we are homesick. Do you feel at home? Or you feel that you want to find the way back home, back to Godhead? So render, with a happy mood render yourself under the divine protection. It is difficult to give up our attachments. But Krishna can make the magic.

43. What do we love in a person? (from discussion with B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 26.11.2006, Sofia) Tirtha Maharaj: What do we love in a person? Think half a minute for yourself. Somebody: I think we like the divine quality in a person, his soul, which is a manifestation of love, kindness and mercy. Tirtha Maharaj: I think you have given the final answer! Hari-lila: The first part of my answer is actually the same. But we like the people for the various ways they satisfy us. In the best case we like their soul as a sparkle of God. Small Dani: We love what we are missing. Somebody else: Must there be any reason for loving? Cant we love without reason?! Causeless I think that love is not affected by anything external.

Kripadham: From philosophical point of view we love God. Practically we are attracted by the different qualities of the person and we are looking for the uniqueness, our love is unique. Tirtha Maharaj: Everybody is searching for purity, everybody is searching for love10 Yamuna: In connection of what he said; I think that we always like the six divine qualities when somebody reflects them richness, strength, glory, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. Once Ramvijay told me: Ah, what you want is north and south together! Somehow our love is like this; we like when somebody has opposite qualities to extreme degrees at the same time. Hari-lila: You should speak specifically for yourself, that you like this, not that we like. Yamuna: Maharaj, I object. I think it is general. Ramvijay: We object. We dont think like this. Rukmini: At first I also wanted to say that what I like is the divine manifestation. But really what I like or love is the peoples ability to make the world a better and more beautiful place; and the people who make me better, who enthuse me to become better. And it is not true that we love those, who are creating comforts for us. It might be the more you beat me, the more I love you. Tirtha Maharaj: Extremely true! Prema: We love beauty. Dani: I think that people might be beautiful in many various ways. But what makes the ugly person beautiful or the beautiful person ugly is his ability or respectively disability to care for others and to serve others. Ramvijay: I dont know in other languages, but in Bulgarian there is one word that is the word obicham(love) which has two meanings. I like sausage is one meaning. This completely means exploit. And absolutely the same word is used when I love somebody which has to be sacrifice and service. Rukmini: There is a state, which is called I am in love Tirtha Maharaj: That means I am in illusion. Ramvijay: But I am in love again very often means I am attached to cigarettes for example, or to alcohol. It is also love! So this question is very tricky. Because one word and one condition is almost the same for full exploitation and for full service! This is my feedback. Tirtha Maharaj: Thank you. This just reminds me one definition of love. That love is the most intelligent way of exploitation. I think you gave very remarkable answers and opinions. That we worship the divine qualities, that we like the divine qualities, that we love the soul like representation of God in the human beings this is very high. Usually we like people for their qualities. Or for their possessions. May be we love them for their mood. You can go to finer and finer levels. You do not like the person, but you like the pocket. You do not like the person, but you like the car. You do not like the person, but you like that he likes you, or she likes you. You do not like the person, but you like that he serves you. It is very difficult to come to the standard, where you love him. Not anything outside of him, but you love him. This goes very close together with the idea that you love his existence. His being, that he exists you love that he exists. These are very, very high ranks of love. But if we have the divine vision, if we have the spiritual vision, then we can love the soul the ultimate aspect of the person. Not anything outside of him, but the soul itself. And if we see the soul, the qualities of the soul will remind us of the divine qualities. Like sat-chit-ananda, eternity, knowledge and bliss. We can put it in other words that the

10

Quote from a song composed by Kripadham das

meaning of life is love. Sat-chit-ananda, the lifes meaning is bliss. Lifes (sat) meaning (chit) is love (ananda). Then it is very close to us. But we can go on theorizing the levels of love Until we do not know what it is, this is just theory. Lets find a practical definition of love that is service. Love means service. So if we want to check our theory by practice do it! Therefore if we want to love God, we have to serve Him. And the best service is to glorify Him. This is the religion beyond religions.

44. Possessive love (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 26.11.2006, Sofia) Usually people define that love should be selfless and letting go, providing freedom... You agree? You remember Saint Pauls definition: like this and that, not complaining, providing freedom, humble You agree? Sorry to say, but that means that you are neophytes in the school of love. Because possessive love is higher. Possessive love is higher! But that should be cultivated deeply in your heart, not on a manifest platform. And in one sense Gods love towards his creatures, the souls, us, is such a love, that provides freedom. You want to leave Me? You can go. But deeply in His heart, His love is possessive. My dear, how far you have been! How long you have made Me wait! I was dying without you His love is possessive. Krishna ultimately wants to enjoy your company also. Once that was happening in Vrindavana. The cowherd boys were tending the cows. Krishna was also there and everybody was happy and fully satisfied that they had the company of their Lord, their beloved friend. They were treating God as a friend. And all of a sudden a new face appeared in Vrindavana. Krishna went to this new guy and He said: Welcome home I am so happy that you came! I know how much trouble you have taken and embraced the newcomer. By this divine touch the newcomer fainted and Krishna also fainted. All the senior cowherd boys were amazed. How is that!? This newcomer is enjoying the embrace of Krishna?! And what is this fainting?! He has never fainted with us. We try to embrace Him, but no fainting is coming neither to us, nor to Him! But then Balaram came to His senses, He was not so astonished. He went there and raised Krishna. Then Krishna started to glorify His servant: I know that you were searching for Me. You have taken all the trouble of material life millions of births on different planets. Lifetime after lifetime you were searching for Me! And I was so much waiting for your company. Im so happy that you came. What does the story say? If you are a newcomer, you are more welcome. Let us be newcomers in Goloka Vrindavana! Lets rush there all together! And lets create a little trouble for the gopalas... Because Krishna is waiting for you. It is obvious that Krishna is very dear to us. But you should know, that you are also dear to Krishna.

45. Golden robbers (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25.02.2007, Sofia)

If however you think that the soul or the symptoms of life, is always born and dies forever, you still has no reason to lament, o Mighty-armed!11 The question discussed is the eternity of the soul, the position of the soul. During this conversation Krishna is explaining the different aspects of the spirit soul. Before He said that to the soul it is not possible to give any harm, it does not take birth, it does not die everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable It is invisible, inconceivable and immutable. So there is no reason for lamentation. Even if the body is limited, the soul is ever-perfect. And then Krishna comes with this verse: If however you think that the soul is always born and dies forever all the time is revolving between these two extremes still there is no reason to lament. If this is a permanent rule that the living entity is ever born and he has to die, and this rule will go on forever there is no reason to lament. Because the rule is permanent, it is standing forever, whatever is finished, it will be coming again. And then the next verse says: One who has taken his birth, is sure to die. And after death, one is sure to take birth again. Therefore in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament. Have you taken birth? Then we have to apply the second part of the instruction. We like the first part: o, we have taken birth! Difficult to face the second part: we have to face death also. But until we think that this bodily reality is the ultimate reality, then this facing death is really painful and horrible. Because actually our body is the expression of our mental conditions. What you wanted, you have got it so do not blame it on others. But for those, who seek their spiritual identity, this question is easier to resolve. Because everything returns back from where it has been taken. Material body is taken from matter, so it will return to matter. Soul is taken from the Supersoul; it will return back to Supersoul. Life comes from life; consciousness comes from consciousness; and love comes from love. This is the ultimate equation of existence. One who has taken birth is sure to die. But then, after death, one is sure to take birth again. In this way death is not an end, but this is a transfer or a gate to another level of existence. Of course, in one sense this is an end; but also a beginning. Just like sleep and awake consciousness. From sleeping the transition to awake consciousness is awakening, right, and from awake state to sleep this is falling asleep this is the action, this is the process .There are states, and there are transitions. Life for many is compared to awake consciousness and death for many is just like a sleep, deep sleep. What is the transition from life to death? This is dying. Dying is just like falling asleep, right? But if we take one part of the story, what is the other part from death to life? How it is called? Taking birth, or re-birth we can say this is like an awakening. So do not lament! If you live, if you die, do not lament! Because eternity is always there, it is our friend, good friend. Therefore in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament. Arjuna was a fighter and he had to face life and death. Therefore this problem was very strong, very heavy for him: how is it, who will die and who will survive?! What is life, what is death? Usually we are not fighters. May be someone is a street-fighter, others are playing these strategy games of fights on the computers, but there it is difficult to face the problem of life and death. Because if you sit in front of your computer, you come to a special state of consciousness empty. This is not awake, this is not dream just blank, none. We cannot face the real problems of living and dying, life and death. But the mystic teachers, the gurus, sometimes say that: O, your awake consciousness is just like a deep sleep, my dear! You think that you are awake, but actually you are in deep sleep. Therefore even from the awake state of consciousness we have to be awakened to a higher, spiritual state of consciousness.
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Bhagavad-gita 2.26

Who will help us? From sleep the alarm clock will help you to come to a different consciousness. By sound it will change your consciousness. In the same way, fortunately we have personal alarm clocks, who give spiritual sound to awake our consciousness. What is that, who is that? This is the spiritual authority. He will give the sound of divinity just to transfer us from one state of consciousness to another. This is a spiritual awakening. May be you had a bad dream, a nightmare, but when you are awake, you do not pay attention. You are not so much concerned, because you know, that this was only a dream. Just like bad dream no, no, this was not reality, this was just a dream! In the same way, if we come to the liberated platform of consciousness, whatever experience you have had so far, you will consider it as a dream, a bad dream. Now we think that what we perceive, this is reality. But do not forget: this is only a trick of illusion. It does not exist. Maya, illusion means not that. Seems to be real, but this is not real, this is a dream. And in this so to say normal state of consciousness when you meet the devotees, they will tell you about a different level and you will say: No, you are living in dreams, my dears. This is just a dream what you say. Beauty?! Harmony?! Selfless service?! God dancing and singing?!? Aha, you are leaving in a dream. You are talking about some golden robbers?! It is a dream. But they say: No, no, no! This is reality! Therefore it is very difficult for people on different level of consciousness to understand each-other. Objective reality is very subjective. But there is Someone, who directs this whole game, this whole play. Krishna is playing the flute and everybody is dancing accordingly.

46. Miracle of initiation (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25.02.2007, Sofia) To provide the transfer from one state of consciousness to another there must be some instrument, and this instrument is the spiritual authority. We have discussed the processes like falling asleep and being awake. Then what is the process of spiritual awakening? How do you call it? This is called initiation. What is initiation? What is your opinion, what is initiation? Yashoda: Second birth. Hari-lila: It is only expressing an intention for something. Ramvijay: This is a spiritual invitation for dance. Kripadham: First step to surrender. Prema-lata: If somebody is accepted in a specific circle. Tirtha Maharaj: Yes My definition is: the only chance. Initiation is the only chance. Only chance in what sense? And initiation into what?! From one nightmare to another? From one stupidity to a greater one? Or - into some secrets. Or as you said to invite, accept somebody in a school to study, to learn something. To start spiritual progress, and not to finish it. Sometimes peoples consciousness is so much limited and so much conditioned, that they can remove that conditioning only by a stronger conditioning. If you are an addict, you can change only to another addiction. You carry your shadow with you. Before you were fanatics for some bad habits, now you become fanatics for some dogmas. Same. The method is the same. Well, the topic is a little different, but the method is the same. Is that real initiation? From one nightmare - to another one? No. Real initiation means the beginning of enlightenment. Therefore this is the only chance. The authorities give a definition that initiation is like exercising a miracle. To make miracles happen. But there are so many resources of miracles. Usually we think that miracles happen when our desires are fulfilled. I have got this good job this is a miracle! Oh, I had met this beautiful girl another nightmare oh no, not a nightmare another miracle! But

you know, there is one special animal which is called kama-dhenu. Dhenu is cow, and kama is desire. So kama-dhenu is a special type of animal; she can give unlimited milk. You can see that in the ancient traditional culture the cow was precious until it was living, alive, because then it could produce milk, it could give calves so they kept it alive. Now times have changed and some people think that a cow is good if we finish her life. Anyway, kama-dhenu can produce unlimited quantities of milk. So if you have desires for best food-stuffs like milk, ghee, cheese and others, then you must have a kama-dhenu. But you know, kama-dhenus are not running up and down in the mountains. And a kama-dhenu is a little bit limited, because it gives only milk. But we have such a long list of desires, so we are not fulfilled with one kama-dhenu. So according to the spiritual biology we walk around the forest and we try to find some other species this is kalpa-vriksha, the wish-fulfilling tree. It is better, it can fulfill different types of desires. You remember the classical story that one empty-bellied beggar felt so tired and exhausted, that he just wanted to take some rest under the shade of one tree. And he said: Oh! I am so thirsty! I want water! Immediately some water appeared. He thought: This is very interesting! May be it is a miracle coming to me. He took the water, then he said: Water is nice, but belly is empty. I am so hungry! I wish some foodstuffs would be here. Then all of a sudden a big plate of prasadam appeared in front of him. He started to eat and fulfilled himself. Then he understood: Oh, I am sitting under a wish-fulfilling tree, quite good! That was a good choice. He said: Now I am satisfied, but that would be so nice if somebody give me a massage.. So, soon servants, family, animals, houses everything was sooner or later coming and coming, and he was growing like anything. Finally he was feeling like a king. And he said: Now I am so strong that I could fight even a tiger! Of course, immediately the tiger manifested under the tree. So, a desire tree is better than kama-dhenu, it can satisfy different desires. But next time you make your excursion on the Vitosha and sit under a tree stop before the tiger. There is one more source of miracles, and this source is the chintamani stone. The chintamani stone is very special, this is a touch-stone. Whatever it touches, if it touches iron, it turns into gold. This is best! By gold you can get everything what you want. And this is not limited unlimited quantity you can produce. There is only one limitation of the chintamani stone it cannot produce another chintamani. This is its shortcoming. Therefore if you want to be awakened spiritually, do not go to kama-dhenu, do not sit under kalpa-vriksha, do not be satisfied with chintamani stones. Because these will not fulfill your desire for miracles. For spiritual transformation we need a spiritual chintamani stone. And a pure devotee is not limited he can create another pure devotee. Therefore we are searching for the company of pure saints, who can convert our rusty iron mentality into a golden heart; who are representing the spiritual truths so substantially, that we start to believe that miracles do exist. Initiation means that transformation. Actually the initiation is a process, by which the guru provides spiritual knowledge to the disciple. And spiritual knowledge means that you acquire, you gain power over your soul, spiritual entity. You acquire your atman, your self-identity. And devotional service means, that you fully surrender with this controlled self. Guru gives divine knowledge how to understand ourselves, how to control ourselves. And also shows how to surrender with that acquired self. Therefore this chance is a great chance for us. We should grab the opportunity. If we are offered a great opportunity, but we misuse it, if we do not take advantage - then we are fools. Initiation means that we should come closer and closer to the ideals of the master. And by the divine arrangement every sincere seeker will find protection. Still I suggest everyone to examine yourselves before jumping if you are really capable of doing this. And when you feel: Yes, Im capable, then do not jump! But when you feel: No, Im totally unqualified, then throw yourself into the dust of the lotus feet of your spiritual

master. Because to feel unqualified this is the qualification. But beware do not disqualify yourself! Because that is a different case. It is said: Maybe the miracle is not a reality, but reality is a miracle. That simple reality that we have this is a miracle! Even that! But only if we see the divine touch.

47. What about my nets? (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25.02.2007) If by initiation I can be converted into a pure devotee and my heart will turn into gold I have to take it! But then comes the next question how to meet, how to find my authority. Once one of my dear godbrothers said: Oh, I decided to go to India. I want to search for my master. But instead of going to India, he was going to the farm, Nanda Falva, and finding his Gurudev only thirty kilometers, not three thousand. This search, inside search, must be there. And when I have come to the edge of my possibilities alone, then I have to take some other guidance, other help from a higher platform. But what is happening: you got an invitation, you like it so much and it is so exciting - so you want to jump. Do you know anything, what is waiting for you? Do you have any idea what is inside the devotional circle? Are you sure if this is for you or not? Can you really dedicate your full life to guru-seva? These are big questions. People are very much addicted to check gurus. What are the qualities, what kind of qualifications he must have, he must be like this, he must be like that Because I am so great, I need the best guru who fulfills all the requirements of the shastras. But if I tell you all the qualities that are required from a disciple Nobody is interested in that list. Better forget about it. But just to give you a little idea a prospective disciple, I mean a candidate, should be: educated, young, healthy, wealthy, wise, perfect in every sense and ready to surrender totally. Who is meeting these requirements? But then you can ask: if somebody is such a perfect man, why he needs a guru?! Then by some mystical arrangement you meet a master and you approach him: Oh, I want to be your disciple. From the deepest core of my heart I suggest to you: if somebody approaches you and says: You should be my disciple then try to avoid that. Or be reserved. Examine: Why? Because in the classical stories it is a little different. Except if you meet Lord Jesus and he tells you Follow me! Then do it! Do it, do not hesitate! Do not be like Peter. The Lord told him: Just come, follow me! and he said: But what about my nets? What about my inter-nets?! says Peter in the twenty first century What about my internets? Just come, follow me, never mind, do not mind. Give up your attachments, come with me. But saints, teachers and representatives of that caliber come very rarely. In Indian tradition different stories are given when disciples are so eager to meet and search for their masters. One is the story of Narottama dasa Thakura and Lokanatha dasa Goswami. Lokanatha means the lord of the place. He was very renounced person always devoted to his practices, not meeting too much people, not wasting time, therefore he was considered a great saint. There was one prospective candidate this was the future Narottama dasa. He decided: Lokanatha! He will be my master! So he approached the master, went up to him and said: Oh master, please be merciful to me, accept me as your disciple. He said: Get out of here! This is not my business. I am not qualified. Go to the saints. There are so many great saints here, just approach them, go to them. I do not accept disciples. No, no, no, I want to follow you. Please! No! No way! You cannot do this! So he rejected this young man. Just imagine yourself: you approach a great saint and you come with your life this is your ultimate offering, everything that you have. You say: Please, accept my life, and

then the guy says: A, get out of here. Go back, do not disturb me. Ha?! What is your feeling? You feel burned. And usually westerners at that moment run away: No, I was mistaken, he is not my master. He frustrated me! But Narottama was a different kind. He said: Oh! My Gurudev is so great! He wants to test me, he wants to see if my dedication is real or not. But then what to do? He was philosophically very well educated and he said: I have to please my master. This is the way. And how to satisfy your spiritual master? By words? By thoughts? May be by some activities, correct. He was also choosing this. He decided: I have to serve him! And you know, these saints were really living in very natural conditions. Their residence was under the trees, every day under different tree. But Lokanatha dasa Goswami was using one certain place as a toilet in the bushes. And as he has no permanent residence, he had nothing. He had one little dhoti and practically there was no chance to serve him. The young man decided: May be I can clean the place for toilet of my guru. After some time Lokanatha Goswami noticed that Hey, everything is so nicely arranged in these bushes. Something is happening here. But he was suspicious: Somebody is making this. So next time he was hiding in another bush and checking what was happening. Then in the morning he saw Narottama dasa coming in a gamcha, very happily chanting and singing: Oh, I come and serve, and clean, and make everything nice. And then all of a sudden Lokanatha Goswami was jumping out of the bushes and said: Hey, rascal, what you are doing here!? Gurudev, Im trying to offer some service to you. Ah, no But you know, do as you like! And he said: Oh! Gurudev gave blessings! I can do the service with his blessings! He was even more happy. But Lokanatha was really reserved and he was not ready to accept the guy. So much so, that even the other saints started to approach him: Goswami, why are you so strict? Why you torture this young man? He is so nice, so dedicated, so qualified. Why you dont accept him? He likes you so much. He said: No! But why not? Then he said: You know, I made a vow. I will not take any disciples. Just imagine, this is very serious. If a saint of such a caliber takes a vow, he means it, it is serious. But then the fellow saints started to say: Hey, wait a minute. This young man has also made a vow. He is ready to give up his life, but he will be your disciple. Then Lokanatha Goswami said: Maybe his vow is stronger than mine. Tell him go to the Yamuna, take a bath and then come to me. So Lokanatha dasa Goswami, the ruler of the place, was ready to break his vow for the sake of the disciple. And he took one disciple. The name was Narottama. Narottama mean the best of humans. And how many disciples Narottama dasa Thakuar had? Sixty thousand. It is not a question of numbers. It is a question of quality. That kind of commitment and that kind of intention we must have in order to really surrender ourselves. In this transaction everything depends on the master. Officially said, theoretically it is like this. But you can see from the example that gurus and very strong divine personalities are ready to change their views and opinions by the sweet desire of the students. So initiation means to enter a loving connection. It is not a theoretical school that you join, this is a loving connection. Miracles do exist. Shrila Shridhara Maharaj says that the path of Krishna is full of miracles. Then he adds: So be ready for miracles! Are you ready for miracles? Just imagine, miracles start to happen right now, here and now are you ready? To leave your nets?

48. Permanent engagement (from lecture of B.K.Titha Maharaj, 26.02.2007, Sofia) The three phases of time are past, present and future. And although we speak of these three phases, they do not really exist. Do you have a past? No. Past is gone, therefore

it is nonexistent. Future is unmanifested, therefore it is non-existing. It is only the present moment; but when I say present moment, it is gone already. We can conclude: nothing exists. So there is no time. Is there time? Achintya bhedabheda tattva yes and no simultaneously. Time in absolute sense does not exist, still we perceive that time is here and passing. Many people say that time is passing, while time is laughing and watches how humans are passing. We should understand that time is an energy of the Supreme Lord and this is manifested on the material platform as a terminating energy. Time is such a factor that provides the sequence of things happening. The present day is the future of the past and the past of the future. If you understand the present moment, you understand the past and the future. If you have complete knowledge of the present moment, then you can understand what is gone and what is to come. We have to use our time in a proper manner. And if we use this present moment for the glorification of the Lord, then we know the past and we know the future. Therefore this should be our permanent engagement. There are different levels of understanding what is time. Still there should be some permanency. Permanent engagement in Krishnas service means full dedication. Full dedication, combined with full freedom; because full engagement is achieved in different institutions in the world. For example if you join the army, they will give you full engagement. Or if you are in prison, you are also engaged - fully. Or if you are on the other side of the iron bars the prison house of maya, called freedom - then you are also fully engaged. We are engaged all the time. But simple engagement and devotional engagement are different. Because engagements provided by these institutions are by force. You get an order and you have to do it. Illusion is very tricky, because it gives orders in such a way, that you feel free. You think that I can do! I am free to choose like this or like that. But actually we are driven by the forces of nature and we are under the spell of illusion. Therefore simply being engaged by force or by this magic is not enough. We have to be engaged by our free will. We have to say yes to Krishna. If the service is achieved by force, then our meditation will be how to give up this engagement. But if we say and we agree: Yes! I want to do! I want to be here, I want to help, tell me what to do? then if we are reasonable men, we shall do it. Full freedom with full engagement: this is the best combination in devotional service. In the past, present and future permanent engagement in Krishnas thoughts, activities, words. Whenever you are in trouble or you are in happiness, you can call out: Jay Radhe Shyam! The situation will change. Suffering will go. And happiness will also go? No. Happiness will be enhanced. By chanting the holy names of God, all that is inauspicious is driven away. Many people want to change their fate. You know that your past is written on your left hand and your future is written on your right hand. But if you want to change your past and your future, there is one suggestion. Just clap when there is a kirtan. Because then the lines on your palms will change and all that is inauspicious will be driven away. Permanent engagement in Gods service this is the goal of Bhakti Yoga. Engagement not simply by force, but by free dedication. Im here, engage me in Your service. Hare Krishna mahamantra is just like an invitation. When you are waiting, receiving a guest you make a nice poster, decorate your entrance and you say Welcome! Then your guest comes and you dont give even a cup of water to him. How the guest will feel? He will say: Well, its a very nice invitation, but very bad handling. Better I go. They dont really want me here. In the same way, you decorate your heart with the poster: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, but when Krishna enters your heart, you dont give any little service to Him?! Like as He says in the Gita: Just a little water, a little fruit, a little leaf and I am satisfied. If we invite God to engage us in service, we should be ready to join the service. It is not enough only to say, we have to be ready. If we give our free will, if we give our willingness to Krishna: Yes, I want to join, take care of me, then He will take care. And

dont forget, this selfless dedication is a blissful one. This proof you can read not only in the books, but this proof you can read on the faces of the devotees. Once somebody asked a teacher: How it happened that the sweet nectar of the holy name has turned bitter on my lips? Then the teacher said: Well, that was not the holy name. If something can be changed, or if I get an experience and then I lose it then it was not a real experience. Starting, changing, finishing this is material nature according to our understanding. But spiritual things are permanent, eternal, ever-growing. And from time to time we have to think it over again what we have seen, what we have achieved, how much we have understood, how much we have surrendered. Because by ten percent surrender you will not get ninety percent results, right? Krishna is a better businessman. But fortunately you have an authorized dealer and this is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. You pay only ten percent and you get hundred and eight percent benefit. Because He is the distributor of mercy. So please, bring some ten percent of your dedication to the temple and put it at His lotus feet. You will be remunerated many, many times more.

49. Sat-chit-ananda (from lecture of B.K.Titha Maharaj, 26.02.2007, Sofia) Past, present and future these are the changing conditions of the living beings. Still there is something permanent. What is that permanency? If we focus on the existence itself like beginning, maintenance and end there is some permanency and what is that permanency? For example, lets take a body we are born, we are living, we are dying, but something is permanent. What is that permanency? The soul. And how can we perceive the soul? How can we catch it? We can identify the soul by the symptoms. What symptom we can see? Life is there, but life cannot perceive itself. Life exists, but cannot understand itself. There must be something extra and this is consciousness. Consciousness can search for itself. There must be somebody, who is searching, who is trying to understand. And if there is this consciousness, consciousness can see, can observe its origin this is existence. In one sense we can say that existence is the past of consciousness. If existence is the past of consciousness, then what is the future of consciousness? The existence is past in the sense that it is origin. The origin of consciousness is existence. What is the future, what is the goal of consciousness? To realize the soul. And then what happens? We go back to God. In what state, in what condition? Morose you enter Goloka Vrindavana? In a sad way, with a sour face? All right, we dont know how we shall enter the spiritual sky. But then check this out. Because Bhagavad-gita says that this process is practiced with happiness. Susukham kartum avyaya this process can be practiced with bliss. And it will bring us closer to the original bliss of the soul. So we can say that the future, or the goal, of consciousness is bliss, anandam. Sat is the existence this is our past, this is our source. Our identity, chit, the consciousness is searching its origin, its being, its goal. And the goal of consciousness is bliss, happiness, anandam. This also shows and approves the different gradations, the different steps in spiritual development. Because first we identify ourselves as consciousness I think, therefore I am. How did Dakar say: Cogito ergo sum I think, therefore I am. This was so to say a materialistic positivists declaration: Cogito ergo sum, I think, therefore I am. After few hundred years based on that philosophy, how did they change this slogan? Dubito ergo sum I doubt, therefore I am. This is the material direction. You will identify yourself by doubting things. Just imagine what kind of identification is this: I doubt, therefore I am. This is my nature; I doubt, this is what I am, I am doubt. I am a big question mark. So I dont put vaishnava tilaka like this, but as a question mark, like that. This is my identity. This is my sampradaya Question mark.

Anyway, consciousness is our identity, this is what we can perceive. Therefore this search is also a conscious search, this is an intellectual search in the beginning. If we look back, trying to find our source, trying to find our past, we have to use an intellectual search, a reasonable search. This is the way to understand existence. And what is the way to understand anandam? Should we apply the same rational method? Ah, it is a poetic question. The same method will not work, because anandam is irrational. Then what method can we apply? What method can we apply for researching the future and the goal of consciousness? I would say, we should search our goal with faith. If we apply faith as the method of research, we shall find it. We shall find this spiritual happiness. With the intellectual method we can have a little understanding about existence, not about this. So we should be intelligent enough to understand that this is not the way. And to get that - faith, deep faith is the way to understand what is happiness, what is bliss. And if we chant with deep faith the names of God, definitely our consciousness will be changed. This is the magic carpet effect. You sit on the carpet and when you start to chant the mantra, you are just flying. It immediately brings you to a different level of consciousness. This is fulfillment of existence - ananda. We can say that the top achievement of existence is consciousness; and the top experience of consciousness is bliss. Always try to keep the company of the devotees, dedicate yourself to your service, try to follow the instructions of your spiritual masters, glorify the Lord and you will see what is the result.

50. The power of faith (from lecture of B.K.Titha Maharaj, 26.02.2007, Sofia) Faith is the method to understand our ultimate goal of existence. Faith is the greatest power of a human being. We can repeat: I am a servant of God or we can really, deeply realize that. Repeating on the surface is nothing. Superficial repetition will not help. But if we deeply dedicate ourselves, if we really depend on God and not on our plans then it starts to work. The next question should be: then how to obtain this faith? If faith is so strong and this is so important, how to get it, how to have it? In the Bhagavad-gita, in one purport of Shrila Prabhupada it is said that faith comes from association with the devotees. So we can obtain faith from those who have it, by the blessings of Shri Guru and by practicing what they are suggesting. All these are very important elements. Because if we associate with people with deep faith, we shall also have faith. If you associate with people, who are hesitating, you will also hesitate. If you associate with drunkards, you will be a drunkard, right? So choose your association. Try to find a higher kind, a spiritual kind of association. This should be our past, this should be our present and this should be our future associating with the devotees. Once they asked Shrila Bhakti Promod Puri Goswami Maharaj he was about a hundred years old pure saint: Maharaj, you are practicing bhakti for eighty years, what is your conclusion? He waited a minute and said: Well without the company of the devotees it does not work. This was his conclusion. Please, pay attention to this advice. Without good, spiritual, elevated association, it is very, very difficult. Therefore we should search for a positive environment such a company that helps our growth protects, helps, nourishes Nourishing company. Why? Because if you have to grow in an antagonistic environment, then you have to waste much of your energy for survival, not for growth.

But that is also true, one our friend today said: My immune system is very strong, because I have got so many bad effects. Therefore I am strong, because I have a difficult life. That is also true, it helps. But if you are fortunate enough to find this nourishing environment, then say Thanks to God. If He puts you into such circumstances, be thankful and happy about it. If He puts you in the hell storm, be happy and thankful about it. And do not forget, superficial repetition is not enough. Remember always the story of the simple ladies, who were carrying the water. A big guruji was sitting on a bank of a river. He was giving a lecture to a big audience. Attentive audience they were, very spiritual and everybody was giving full attention. Just like you now, waiting for the message. Guruji was saying: Dont forget, by Rama naam, by the holy name of Rama, you can cross the ocean of material existence. The audience was mesmerized: Fantastic! Guruji is fantastic! Everybody went home satisfied. And the ladies, who were carrying the water in big pots over their heads, were just passing by when Guruji was telling the big sentence: By Rama naam you can cross the material existence. So the next occasion ladies again came to the river and they wanted to cross to the other side. But the boatman was sleeping, so it was impossible to take the boat. Then they started to think: What shall we do? And one of them said: Hey, you remember? Swamiji said that by Rama naam we can cross the ocean of existence! Lets try, this is just a little river. Then they agreed: Ah! This is a very nice idea, we shall try! Rama! Rama! Rama crossing the river! So they were paying attention. They were practicing with faith and they were crossing the river. At that time guruji was meditating on the other side of the river. Then he saw the ladies walking on the surface of the river, chanting Rama naam. And he said: Yes! I am so great. You see, simply by following my advice, they walk on the river. I am so strong! I can also cross the river! He immediately jumped up and tried to cross the river, but immersed on the spot. Because he did not really believe what he was saying. Therefore it is a very important law: you should take yourself very seriously the advice that you are distributing to others. First do, then tell. This is the power of faith. This is the power of pure practice. This is the way to cross the suffering ocean of material existence.

51. Suffering caused by affection (from lecture of B.K.Titha Maharaj, 26.02.2007, Sofia) The source of pain, the source of lamentation is suffering. Suffering comes from separation. On the elementary, basic level, and on the high platform also, separation is the source of lamentation. Once Sadhu Maharaj said: Life is suffering. Lets suffer for Krishna! And I think this is not a pessimistic approach, but this is quite a realistic approach. If you make a list of your happy moments and your difficult moments, you can draw the balance. Then you will agree that life is suffering. But are we born for suffering? Is this our daily bread? Is this our goal of existence? Dont tell me! No! It is something else. Bhakti Yoga means to say No! to such ideas. Bhakti Yoga means that you separate yourself from stupidity. But again separation is there. The goal of life is to take the experience. Suffering helps us to be disillusioned. When you hit your head on the wall you understand that this is not the door. This is not the way out of the labyrinth. And what is hidden in your head this is intelligence, right? You should use your intelligence to find the handle of the door. The source of lamentation is suffering, ignorance so many different elements are there. Yet by spiritual practice we can come to a better and better and ultimately a perfect state of consciousness. So this is the practical side: we have to practice the truth, we have

to practice the spiritual sadhana. And by this you can achieve mercy. Mercy comes in the beginning and by practice you can deeply understand it, absorb it, and then you can reflect on it. By purity of mind, by purity of consciousness you will understand how much mercy is given to you. At the beginning we do not understand that. But later on by practice, by purification, we shall really understand that this is incredible! Yamuna: Maharaj, you were speaking about the suffering in the material world. Could you say something about the spiritual suffering? Tirtha Maharaj: No, that is not a good propaganda. Once there was a question: If material life is suffering and spiritual life is suffering, what is the difference? Then the answer came: Material life is finished once. But spiritual life is eternal. It is said that spiritual suffering is burning like volcanic magma, but at the same time it is sweet like honey. So it is very difficult to live without that. But that type of suffering - spiritual suffering - we have no idea about it. Because that is so fulfilling, that is so nourishing! Therefore we all should pay attention to the philosophy of bhakti, because it is not a cheap propaganda that: You just join and you will be happy! Right, because usually people say this: Join us and you will be happy. Here what is the invitation? Join us and you will be suffering. So think, if somebody is so sincere about his process, then it is good to examine what is hidden there. And what is the suffering of the devotees? Ah, I am so fallen, I am so far from my Lord. That kind of suffering is very delicate. Actually this word, this expression is not really proper it is not a suffering, it is rather lalasa, a longing. This is a very sweet longing. Suffering is a necessary part on the material platform of limited consciousness; and in spiritual affairs it belongs to the nature of affection. Therefore in a good romance or romantic movie without suffering the story is not complete. In that sense we have to understand that in the spiritual life there is a tinge, there is a kind of suffering, which makes the whole story complete. I think we were discussing once, there is one story when Shukadeva Goswami was leaving home. Shukadeva was a son of Vyasa. Vyasa is a very respectable elderly sage and his young boy is searching for perfection. And the boy says: Father, I go in search of perfection. I leave you! I give up my attachments for the sake of perfection of God. Do you like Shukadevas brave and powerful search? Yes, we all love that, because we also want to start our search. And what is happening to Vyasa? He says: O my son! But only the trees are resounding his call. Shukadeva is going, leaving. When I first read that story about that age as you I said: Yes! Shukadeva is right! Jay Shukadeva! Leave the old father! Because even it is written: He might know, he might not know. He is not an authority. Search for yourself!12 The young man is leaving and the old man is crying. Young men will agree with the young man. But when you grow old, you will feel the suffering of the father, who is crying after the son: Dont go, my dear but the echo is resounding in the trees empty. So there are different phases, different aspects of the same truth. Without sacrifice there is no fulfillment. This is the pain of separation. This is the suffering that I am talking about suffering caused by affection. Is that a sweet suffering? It is a very, very deep emotional suffering, which makes the whole story complete. It gives certain bliss to everyone who is involved. And this is only the beginning of the connection between people.

52. The happy prayer

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Shiva says: Aham vedmi, shuko vetti, vyasa vetti na vetti va I know, Shuka knows, Vyasa might know, might not know the meaning of Bhagavatam

(from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, December 2003, Hungary) We should chant the Name with love, with affection. It is not enough to chant it superficially, it is not enough to chant it as a routine, but as a cry of joy: Krishna! or as a cry for help: Krishna! There must be affection inside, otherwise it will not work. If you chant the name of a person any persons name without affection, he will not respond. If you tell a child: Bojidar, come here, I will beat you up! he will be stupid to come there, if you give him the idea that he will be punished. So the quality of the chanting is very important. And then, as a result of this qualitative, emotional chanting, blessings will come to you. Where is this blissful and spiritually liberated state? Is it tomorrow? Is it somewhere else? Next life? After leaving the material sphere? No, it should be right here and now. Krishnas mercy is always there, but you have to purify your vision to perceive that. Krishna has different types of flutes, different flutes for different purposes: vamshi, vamshuli, venu and many, many others. One is made of bamboo, the other is made of marble, the third is made of gold. One is bedecked with jewels, another of His flutes is distributing nectar. One is short, the other is long. And He uses the different flutes for different purposes, because Krishna, as we agreed last time, is all-attractive. So He uses the different flutes to invite all the different jivas back home. Even the chanters of the Vedic hymns are actually following the flute sound of Krishna. Even the Gayatri mantra is just a sound of the flute of Krishna. But He is not playing for the bramins - He is playing for the cows and He is playing for the gopis, so, for the very simple-minded people. And they are ready to follow. So I suggest do not have a complicated mind, because it will be very difficult even to hear, what to speak to follow the flute sound of Krishna! Simplicity is the explanation or the definition for Krishna Consciousness. Therefore we can chant the mahamantra as a happy prayer. This is not a very difficult spiritual practice. This is not like a penance or self-torture. I give pain to myself by chanting this mantra. This mahamantra is painful. No, this is a happy prayer: Krishna! But you know much more about this than myself, so why should I repeat this to you As a blissful prayer we should chant this mahamantra, then even the deepest pain in your heart will be just changed. Because to love, equals to have pain. Without pain there is no love. If you do not have pain, then you do not have love. It must pierce into your heart, tear it apart, take away your prana. You should die from these emotions. Devastating feeling. But if you chant nicely, by the grace of the holy name these painful feelings can change. You should try it for yourself, I cannot tell anything more about this. You should try.

53.Faith and love (from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, December 2003, Hungary) Question of Damodar: How are these two things related emotions and faith? First one has to believe in order to have the emotions; or as a result of the emotions faith will come? Tirtha Maharaj: Adau shraddha13 first is faith. But that faith is only an initial type of faith. What is before faith? Sukriti (spiritual merits) and mercy. That is before.
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From Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu 1.4.15-16

These are the reasons for having the initial stage of faith. And when we have initial type of faith, then we start to associate with holy people. Then ruchi, spiritual taste will come, the real one. Initially, there is also taste, otherwise we would not be here. If we do not feel something about Krishna, what is the reason of staying here? So real faith and real emotions go together. Adau shraddha, first is faith. This faith helps us to associate. We can associate with Krishna, we can associate with vaishnavas, we can associate with guru. So association is there. A special type of this association is guru-seva. Then comes purification of the existence, how to get rid of the anarthas and to be fixed in your service, etc. And then comes ruchi, ruchi is taste, the higher taste. And that higher taste will enforce or enhance our faith. Once Shrila Shridhara Maharaj was in coma for a long time, some days. After he recovered, the devotees asked him: What was there? What did you see? He said: It was all dark. Only faith was there. This is something very important. In other places he says that faith is the strongest power that you have. It can bridge the greatest gaps that you have between your present situation and your spiritual goal, ideal. It is a big distance between the two, right? Still, by faith we can bridge this gap. So faith is very important. We already discussed the different definitions of faith. But I think that one of the most precious definitions for me is that faith is such a conviction that you achieve through love. So I think this is very beautiful explanation what is faith in the initial sense also, and in the final sense. You were asking about faith and emotions. Of course, our real spiritual emotions will deepen our faith. And our faith will help us to taste the nectar of sweet emotions. Without faith it is not working. But faith is not a blind faith. Faith is not ignorance. This is such a conviction, achieved by love. You feel the difference? For many people faith is something that I do not know, therefore I believe. Their faith is just like a belief. But the real faith is conviction. It is not that I do not know. I know, therefore I do. I believe, therefore I do. So what is before: the egg or the hen? What is before: emotion or faith? Actually on the purified platform they are inseparable. The gopis did not have faith. They had love. Faith, lets admit, in many cases is theoretical. But love is real! The subjective part of affection - that is trust; and the objective part is service, or sacrifice. The gopis did not have faith. They were not on the theoretical platform. They wanted Krishna. Irrespective of any result or reaction. We shall go to eternal hell no problem. This is not faith, this is emotion! Emotions are higher than faith. Because emotional part is more active; faith is more passive. On Kurukshetra when they met again Krishna and the gopis they said: We are not satisfied with only memories. We want You, not our memories. Is this faith?! No! This is emotion. I want to possess You! Faith means I am Yours. Bhakti means: But You are mine! One is faith, the other is love. This is the difference. But what comes before, I cannot tell. These two sisters are just running after eachother. One is trying to capture the other; the other is trying to serve the first. They work together. Your faith helps your emotions. Your emotions will help you to have faith.